


Reaper’s War

by Yuki_Rose_20



Series: Crimson Reaper AU [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Bumblebee - Freeform, CRAU, Comfort, Creatures of Grimm - Freeform, CrimsonReaperSequel, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, Fluff, Gore, Guilty Conscience, Hurt, Maidens don’t exist in this story, Multi, Not underaged so don’t have at me, Other tags to be added, RWBY - Freeform, Ruby 16/17 legal to consent to sexual intercourse in the UK, Smut, SoulCorruption, TeamJNPR, TeamRWBY, Violence, Whitefang - Freeform, Whiterose, total canon divergence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:27:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 62,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26816605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuki_Rose_20/pseuds/Yuki_Rose_20
Summary: INFREQUENT UPDATESSequel to Crimson Reaper. A part of the CR-AUTeam RWBY are once again split apart. Yang has a lot of recovering to do but that won't stop her from finding answers to questions she's asked before. Starting with a certain wolf faunus. Blake must atone for her sins and after being thoroughly interrogated by Winter Schnee, she's given the opportunity to complete missions as a huntress would. Weiss is still recovering from coming out of her coma, soon finding out she needs more help than she or anyone anticipated. Her life may well be holding on by a thread. And finally, Ruby needs to learn how to keep her emotions in check, training with her father whenever he's around to do so. An incident causes Ruby to have to travel around the tundra and forests of Atlas, lest she be caught and and possibly killed by Ironwood.Whilst our favourite team are busy, a new but ancient threat awakens, causing chaos, corruption and death where ever it directs its minions of darkness.Will Team RWBY eventually find each other again and figure out why the world is crumbling around them? Or will they crumble with it?I do not own RWBY. All credit goes to RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Others to be added, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Series: Crimson Reaper AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1915630
Comments: 39
Kudos: 68





	1. Answers

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I’m back! I know it wasn’t that long since I announced this sequel but I’m happy to say I’ve got at least half of it figured out. Mainly the major plot points as well as minor ones too. But I still have a long way to go before everything is properly figured out.  
> To start the story, we’re going to go from where we practically left off in Crimson Reaper with Ruby, Qrow and Barrett the Ursa Major.  
> I hope you enjoy the first chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. 
> 
> I will appreciate constructive criticism. Point out any errors and they’ll be corrected and so on.  
> Other than that, see you at the end! Happy Reading!

Ruby Rose, currently a half-Grimm traipsed through a large forest covered in snow alongside her father, Qrow. They were making their way towards a cabin that resided in an unusually large clearing.  
She trudged silently along the frozen path, stuck in her thoughts and trying with all of her strength not to let the Grimm parts of her take over. It wasn’t easy keeping the darkness at bay, even for a little while. She still held on though.

The young faunus was hoping high that her father could answer her many questions and help her to revert back to normal. If it could be done.

They’d been walking for hours now, all manner of animals skittered and ran into hiding from the feeling of a darkening aura. Grimm eyed the unusual pair from behind trees and bushes but never made a move to attack. They seemed unsure of them and opted to value their lives for another day. 

The pair continued walking, Ruby starting to lag behind due to her intrusive thoughts.  
Maybe she should actually concentrate on where she’s going before she trips. She wasn’t in the mood for falling over and scraping her knees on the freezing ground. So finally, she shook herself free from her thoughts, recalling that the two of them were not alone on their journey to the cabin.  
Her newest friend huffed and grunted next to her as he walked on all fours. Barrett most definitely wasn’t what you’d call a normal pet or even a normal Grimm.

There was just something about him that drew Ruby closer. He was intelligent and seemed to recognise different emotions; positive and negative. It was strange but it made it all the more easy to communicate with him. As an added bonus, the large beast seemed to understand what she’s saying most of the time. That in itself stopped the young Reaper from going insane when it was just her and Barrett.

After walking for another hour or so, the three of them finally arrived at the cabin. It wasn’t very big and looked to only be able to house two people at once.  
It was quaint and well looked after. The wood it was built from still looked brand new with no splinters or a pallet out of place. The front door looked like it’d been made yesterday with a fresh coat of lacquer. The windows, they were small with shutters hanging onto the side. Most likely to keep any Grimm from seeing the lights at night.  
Surprisingly, it seemed well looked after even out in the snowy forests of Atlas. Even more surprisingly, the built-in stone chimney was billowing out smoke like someone was home. At least there was going to be a fireplace to sit in front of. 

After her observation, the young Reaper followed her father into the cabin, telling Barrett to wait outside and guard the small building.  
Said Grimm simply huffed and lay down by the entrance, seemingly falling asleep soon after.  
Ruby took one last glance at her unusual friend, shrugged her shoulders once more and shut the door before all of the warm air escaped.

The hall of the cabin was very small and opened up into a tiny lounge that consisted of a fireplace, a coffee table and two small sofas. Was everything in this building small? Probably. Ruby hoped her bed wasn’t as tiny as everything else otherwise she might have trouble sleeping.

To her left, was a door. Ruby assumed it was the kitchen and paid it no mind. There wasn’t much else in the tiny cabin. There had to be small bedrooms in here though, otherwise it wouldn’t be suitable to temporarily live in. Again, she shrugged her shoulders.  
What was it with her and shrugging her shoulders today? Jeeze.

The young girl finally turned to look back into the lounge and walked over to one of the sofas. She lazily plopped down onto the one she’d chosen. After a few minutes of silence, she sat back up and wondered where Qrow had gotten to.  
To answer her question, the aforementioned older Reaper walked out of the door Ruby had seen. Shockingly, a man was following after her father. 

She stood abruptly, a few wilted rose petals falling to ground as she accidentally used her semblance to stand.  
She had to be seeing things. That man was not here. He couldn’t be. He was one of the reasons she’d been abducted at Beacon. 

“What the fuck are you doing here Ozpin!?” She growled out, baring her slightly larger teeth. Her ears flattened backwards whilst her tail stuck up in alert. She instantly felt the half Grimm mask on her face prickle to life, slowly growing a little more. 

“Hey! Watch your language!” Qrow yelled, obviously trying to scold her. It didn’t work and she continued to stand her ground.

“Shut the fuck up Qrow.” She viciously said, emphasising the word ‘fuck’ to get her message across. The one where Qrow shouldn’t interfere.

“Who do you-“ The older Reaper began but was cut off by Ozpin grabbing onto his arm.

“It’s fine. Let her get her frustrations out. Then we can actually talk.” The grey-haired Headmaster said calmly. A little too calmly.

He turned back to Ruby then. The younger girl froze in place as his eyes bore into hers. They were hard and definitely not calm. There was a rolling storm brewing in them, silent anger building up within them. The younger girl dropped her gaze and her tail instinctively followed, wrapping around one of her legs. 

“Much better. Now, I hear you want answers. Your father…”

The young Reaper looked up and glared at the Beacon Headmaster. But it didn’t stop him from continuing. “Your father told me you have questions. I can answer them if you’ll allow me to.”

Her glare shifted over to Qrow, and if looks could kill, he’d be a goner. 

But alas, they couldn’t. She opted to stay silent and sat back down, thinking of what she should do. Should she ask Ozpin her questions? Should she trust him after everything that happened or should she say no and never get the answers she wants?  
Eventually, she came to a decision.  
“Yeah, I do have questions. Where did Reapers come from? Why do we turn into Grimm? Why aren’t there many of us left? Why is there a Grimm outside that’s so incredibly intelligent that it can understand me and doesn’t attack?” She could have gone on and on but then there’d be too many questions for Ozpin to remember at one time. 

The Beacon Headmaster took that as his cue to sit down on the opposite side to the younger girl, taking a sip from his mug.  
“Let me ask you, what is your favourite fairy tale?” 

Ruby looked at him in puzzlement, her head automatically tilting slightly. “Um, I guess the brother Gods and how humanity was created.”

“What if I told you, legends and stories are not just legends or stories. They hold truth to them.” Came Ozpin’s cryptic reply.

“What do you mean?” She inquired curiously.

“The Tale of the Brothers is one of those stories that is true but has had many details removed and replaced over the years.” He answered, taking another sip from his mug.

“Sooo, what you’re saying is, my favourite fairy tale is true? What absolute bullshit.” She said, already beginning to get frustrated. “Just let me ask my questions, you give me the answers and then you can get back on your high horse and fuck off.”

The grey-haired man simply sighed heavily before replying. “I am afraid the story is true and many other fairy tales are. Do you want your answers or should I take my leave?” 

The young faunus huffed in annoyance. “I want answers.” She muttered.

“Alright. I will give you those answers but you have to be patient and not lash out or I will leave and you won’t get what you want.” The old man said, clearly threatening her and treating her like some sort of child. “Understood?”

“Fine.” She grumbled, crossing her arms like a child having a small tantrum.

“Alright. Well, do you remember how the Tale of the Brothers goes?” Ozpin inquired, settling his mug on the table.

“Yeah, I remember. Two brothers of Light and Dark came to Remnant. One always wanted to create life and the other always wanted to destroy that life. They made a truce and created something that could create and destroy as one race. Humans. The brothers bestowed gifts upon their new creation so they could live well and defend themselves when they needed to. They were the first people with semblances.” The young faunus said, explaining the story she knew in the simplest way she could.

Ozpin listened intently until she was finished, deciding he needed a sip of his drink before he corrected her. “You are right for the most part but the Brothers never gifted humanity with anything. They already gave the gift of life.”

Ruby took that information in quickly, questioning the man as soon as a question passed through her mind. “Sooo, where did semblances come from?”

“We will get there when we need to. Anyhow, the Brothers and humans lived in peace for quite some time. The younger brother, the God of Darkness grew bored and restless. He wanted to create a war, just for the fun of it. He did by creating something from his own essence, his own body.” Came the next explanation from the Headmaster.

The young girl tilted her head in confusion again and then it clicked. “Grimm.” She muttered, mostly to herself but Ozpin still heard her.

“Yes. He created the Grimm. His older and much wiser brother, The God of Light was not happy. Humans were dying left, right and centre because of his younger brother’s darkest creation. He sought to put a stop to his brother’s plans and created a new being from his own essence.” He paused, taking a larger sip from his mug as it was almost finished. “They were strong but weren’t strong enough to defeat the scourge of Grimm. They were easily corrupted and taken out of the equation. So, the God of Light took some time in creating his next being. He not only used his own essence, but stole some of the strongest Grimm and used their dark essence to create the first Reapers. In turn, they were given aura and semblances as well as the ability to absorb the essence of Grimm and use that energy to defeat them.” 

He paused again and finished his drink, passing off his mug to Qrow and waiting for Ruby’s next question.

The aforementioned girl didn’t say anything and a look of surprise crossed her features, staying there before a thoughtful expression replaced it.  
“Is that why we eventually turn into Grimm?” She asked, her earlier anger now completely gone.

“Yes, the first Reapers never knew how to control their abilities and thus, transformed into the monsters the God of Light sought to destroy. He never gave up and continued to create more. Call it an imbalance of dark and light in the body. Too much of the dark and it will corrupt you, too much of the light and it will consume, burning you from the inside out.” Ozpin said, a grimm look etching itself onto his face. He shook his head and continued “Unfortunately, the war between Grimm and Reapers was only the beginning. By the end of it, large quantities of Grimm had been destroyed but a great deal more had been created from the sheer amount of Reapers transforming. Countless Reapers perished in the final battle. Their bodies didn’t decompose like normal humans do, they decayed quickly and became the essence of which Grimm were created in the first place. Black pools of death and hatred. Stronger Grimm were created from those pools and to this day, we continue to fight them and take back the world we were created in.”  
The ageing Headmaster expounded, seemingly finishing his story. 

A new question flew through the young Reaper’s mind after she’d processed every bit of information she’d been given. “Why aren’t there many Reapers around today?” What happened to them all?”

“Simply put, the Reapers of the past saw themselves as monsters and sought to purify their bloodlines. Most of them married and reproduced with humans. Skip many millennia, we now have most humans with a semblance and aura. It was all thanks to those Reapers that humans can fight against Grimm just as effectively as they could.” The Beacon Headmaster explained, clearly leaving something important out.

Ruby instantly noticed and asked the relevant question to weed the information out of him. “How am I and Qrow still here then? How are we full-blooded Reapers? How is Yang a half Reaper?” She decided it best that she shouldn’t tell anyone about her cousin’s new status as a full-blooded Reaper. Even though they’d find out soon enough.

“Simple, Miss Rose. There were still a few Reapers that wanted to keep their bloodlines going. Keep them pure from humanity and not dilute their offspring's abilities just so they could continue fighting against the creatures of Grimm. So, here you are today; a full-blooded Reaper with parents of the same.” Ozpin explained, taking the mug Qrow had been holding for over five minutes. 

Ruby’s brow knit together. She really didn’t like that explanation. Not one bit. She could have been a half Reaper like Yang but noooo, Qrow and her mother seemed to want to keep Reapers going for the stupid reasons of purity of the bloodlines and whatever else Qrow would say as an excuse.

“Ruby?” Came the voice of her father.

She looked up at him and glared, deciding not to say anything in case it set them off into an argument.

“If you’re thinking me and your mother had you because we wanted to keep our bloodlines pure, you’re wrong. We were both lonely and hooked up for a while until Yang’s mother vanished. Summer… Summer wanted to help Yang and Tai. She ended up falling for him while she was still with me. She never told Tai about her and me, but she should’ve done, because she fell pregnant with you.  
I was hoping you were Tai’s and would only be a half Reaper, not a full-blooded one. It turned out you are mine.  
But we decided to keep it a secret and have you raised with Yang as sisters. It was a mistake we can never take back.”  
Qrow said, his voice quiet, clarifying the questions Ruby had, had about her mother and him. It answered a lot for her.  
She didn’t want to think of her mother as some sort of adulterer. Well, she was but not in the way Ruby was thinking. It still wasn’t good though. 

The older Reaper looked down at his shoes, a sad, guilty look on his face. He should have explained all of this to his only daughter a long time ago. Or he should have raised her himself instead of pushing her onto Tai and Summer.  
He knew he wouldn’t have been able to raise Ruby like he would've wanted to, his semblance got in the way of that and forced him to stay away.  
It always broke his heart whenever he visited, never truly able to be a parent. The guilt and pain of only ever getting to his daughter once in a blue moon festered into self-hate, ultimately causing him to start drinking.  
He couldn’t blame Ruby for his problems, they were all his fault. He threw his only child at the only two people he trusted the most. It still wasn’t enough of course, he still hated himself, even to this day. But he knew Ruby deserved the answers he’d been hiding.

“Why did you want me and Yang raised as sisters?” She blurted out as the thought ran through her head.

Qrow sighed heavily before replying. “Well, my semblance isn’t the best to be around long term. I didn’t want to subject you to a life of misfortune. I’m basically a walking bad luck charm, so I had a talk with your mother about it. She agreed it wasn’t going to be good for you if I stuck around.”

“I...guess I can at least thank you for that above anything.” The younger Reaper said, her lupine ears flattening slightly.  
She had a few more questions but maybe they could wait. She was tired and desperately needed to figure out how to revert back to normal. 

“If you have any other questions, please ask them now. I also noticed you have an Ursa Major as a friend.” Ozpin said, interrupting the young girl's thoughts.

“Er, yeah. I helped him and he’s been following me and protecting since. Why is that?” Okay, she wasn’t done with her questions, she could at least get this intriguing topic out of the way.

“Your Grimm friend may be old enough to know what you are and know that attacking you will only end in his death. Like you said, he is incredibly intelligent. For any Grimm that is unusual.” Ozpin said, tapping his lip with his index finger in thought.

“Could… could he have been a Reaper?” Came Ruby’s quiet, sad sounding question.

“He could, yes.” Was the immediate answer. “He may have been a Reaper and transformed into an Ursa. That would mean he’s been alive for a very long time.”  
Ruby looked at him with a puzzled but curious expression on her face. So he clarified for her. “The earlier Reapers transformed into the Grimm we know now. Beowolves, Ursa, Apathy and a few others. The Reapers transformations changed after a long while. Turning into humanoid Grimm instead. They are incredibly rare to find now, so I am amazed you found the one you have and not a humanoid one. They are far more dangerous due to their intelligence. Although, you should never underestimate a humanoid Grimm. They retain far more intelligence and emotions than the Grimm of old.”

Ruby took a moment to think through all of the information she’d been given. She still couldn’t quite believe any of it but it seemed plausible in a strange way. A part of her seeming to shift and find truth in it all. It was very strange to say the least.

Ozpin interrupted her train of thought once more. “I think it’s about time you became yourself again, Miss Rose.” He said, looking to Qrow as he said so.  
The older Reaper got the message and moved over to his daughter, motioning for her to stand. She did and he placed a hand on top of her head between her ears. Before he did anything else, she spoke up. “I still have a few more questions but I suppose they can wait.”

“Indeed. It is quite late and the longer we leave you in your half transformed state, the harder it will be to revert your form.” Ozpin replied, standing up as well after placing his still half full mug on the coffee table. 

Qrow looked to the ageing Headmaster, searching his eyes for something he couldn’t explain. Ozpin nodded once and Qrow began the process.  
“This might hurt a bit so hold still. I’ve never done this before but hopefully it’ll work.” He said, gathering energy into his hand that was still atop Ruby’s head.  
The girl frowned at that but didn’t say or do anything. She did as she was told and stood as still as she could, expecting a lot of pain.  
She felt tingles on the top of her head and on her wolf ears. The feeling spread into her face and then travelled down on her Grimm arm. The feeling intensified to a throbbing pain as it traversed into her chest and the rest of her body.  
The bearable pain disappeared as quickly as it had come only to be replaced with unrelenting agony.

She screamed as the Grimm parts of her body were seemingly sucked back into her body. The pain was beyond unbearable. She thought she’d felt enough pain in her short life that could never rival any other again. She was wrong. So very wrong. 

The only sounds she could hear was her father trying to comfort her as he tried to revert her back to a more normal form. The sounds of something smashing against the front door echoed in her ears. She couldn’t think what it could be but it continued for some time.  
Soon enough, the young Reaper fell into the embrace of unconsciousness, the last thing she would remember was a large, black mass barging through the front door and roaring intimidatingly.


	2. Sweet Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is it a dream? Or is it some sort of weird reality? What if it’s both? Who’s to know when you’re shown a past that isn’t yours whilst you’re in a coma? Dreams aren’t always as sweet as they seem so be wary of those you encounter within your own subconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyy guys! I’m back and it’s exactly one week since I posted the first chapter. You may find this chapter to be quite interesting. And for those of you who have tumblr, you’ll have seen my sneak peak yesterday.  
> One last note before I let you all read the new chapter. Don’t let the name of the chapter fool you.
> 
> Now without further ado, onto chapter 2: sweet dreams!

It was so dark. And cold. There was nothing in sight. Just an endless void of pitch black. She couldn’t feel anything but the cold. Was she dead? No, she couldn’t be. Memories of her life would’ve been flitting through her mind. There was none present so far. It was just the inky darkness surrounding her.  
She tried to listen for any sort of noise. Nothing. Did she even have ears? Actually, did she even have a body? That question was soon answered when she brought what was thought to be a hand up to her face.  
So, she didn’t have a body. Arms, legs, ears, face, chest. Everything a body should have, she didn’t have. 

Now the question was, where in Remnant was she? Was she just, floating, in this strange cold void? Maybe she was actually dead and just waiting for the afterlife to claim her.  
That still didn’t seem right to her. 

Suddenly, a light shone brilliantly in the darkness far away from where she was. Just as she was thinking to make her way towards it, the light expanded, swallowing everything in its path. Her included. So it was the afterlife she had been waiting for.

It was not to be.

She found herself in a field of green, blue, purple and red; facing a large, beautiful castle. She felt something between her toes and immediately looked down. Grass.  
She eyed her feet and legs, taking in the paleness. She raised her hands and they were just as pale.  
Next, she looked at what she was wearing. A simple blue gown flowed off of her body, down to her knees. There were no frills or frays on the dress, just a small amount of red lining the bottom. It was simple but perfect.

As she was admiring the lovely work of the dress, a figure passed through her.  
She startled at the unexpected intrusion and fell onto her behind. She grumbled and picked herself back up, only to now see what was happening in the field.  
Blood stained and marred the once beautiful landscape. Bodies lay lifeless amongst crimson flowers. The bodies of Grimm dissipating slowly, choking up the air she breathed in.  
She realised that she was standing in a battlefield, watching the many soldiers and Grimm fight one another. 

A soldier to her left caught her attention. He was swinging a large sword in a wide arc, making it sing its way into the head of Beowolf.  
He turned to his next enemy and simply placed his hand on the beast's head.  
It froze instantly. The crimson light from its eyes flickered before finally giving out. The black-furred monster fell and dissipated into nothingness.  
The soldier paid no mind to the defeated beast and targeted another. This time, however, energy pulsed from his arms and into his sword. He swung the massive blade in the direction of a beast that was certainly too far away to cut.  
The energy on the sword escaped the blade, heading straight towards the beast.  
The monster fell an instant later. It was impressive to say the least. 

Something of the soldier reminded the girl of someone. She couldn’t think of who but the thought was there nonetheless.

The girl that watched the scene unfold became bored of watching the soldiers and Grimm, deciding to walk straight through the battlefield. It seemed she was invisible; no one was yelling at her or rushing to attack her.

As she stepped into the middle of the field, her position changed. She was now in a different place. A room. Quite a large room with the elegance and class that only the rich and powerful could gain. 

It was simply furnished. A bed, bedside cabinet, a wardrobe, and a set of chest drawers. There were no decorations. It was bare and quite boring to look at. 

She startled as a long, defeated sigh sounded from behind her. She swiftly spun around to see who had made the noise.

A beautiful woman sat in front of a mirror, her eyes closed as though she was in deep thought. She was absentmindedly playing around with a brightly lit glyph embossed with a snowflake. That in itself felt familiar to the girl. 

Said girl took in the woman’s appearance bit by bit.  
She was wearing a stunning white dress, lined with small blue accents along the edges. It was just as simple as the girl’s dress but it spoke of incredible wealth.  
The woman’s hair was just as beautiful as her face; framing it perfectly and cascading down her back like a flowing river. What shocked the girl most was that it was white. In the light they were in it looked blonde but it wasn’t. It was definitely white, just like her own.

The girl jumped again when the woman abruptly stood, her eyes snapping open, the glyph disappearing. The girl’s breath caught in her throat. They were blue.  
Who in Remnant was this woman?

The beautiful woman quickly strode over to one of the small windows and looked out into the field the girl had been in not long ago.  
The aforementioned girl followed the woman to the window and stood next to her. They both watched as the battle below raged.

Then out of nowhere, a single soldier appeared, slicing and cutting through Grimm with practised ease. It was just as impressive as the soldier the girl had watched before, but this man danced around his enemies before they inevitably fell to his blade.

The pair watched as many soldiers and Grimm fell to each other’s claws and blades. The only one left standing being the impressive soldier they’d both watched in awe.

As the violent clash finally came to a bloody end, the girl surveyed the battlefield in horror. No one should ever be witness to such a gruesome and unforgiving scene. She shook her head, feeling absolutely disgusted when the soldiers were torn limb from limb.  
The movement shifted a stray strand of hair into her face, the white a stark contrast against the sea of crimson pooling over lifeless corpses. She pushed her hair back and took a step backwards, retreating further into the room, turning around when she was far enough away from the window and the carnage outside.  
The lady was gone and the room was not what it was when she entered it. Instead, the girl now stood in what appeared to be the main section of the castle, adorned in lavish decorations and grand furnishings. Everything about the area screamed of money and power.

A chorus of laughter and chatter resounded behind her. She turned to see a reception room, just as ostentatious in it's beauty as the rest of the castle.  
Seated at a long table at the head of the room was the same lady. She sat regally, dressed in a gown so stunning it put the previous to shame. It was a wedding dress.  
A familiar man stood beside her, his knight attire, bar the helmet, freshly cleaned and polished.  
The girl recognised the armour, this was the soldier from the battlefield. 

The ceremony appeared to have already ended, they now spent their time entertaining their guests and revelling in each other's company as newlyweds. It was a tooth-rotting scene; the girl tried hard not to cringe. She was sure she heard the man say something along the lines of, ‘You are the most amazing woman I could have asked for, Salem.’  
A pang shot through her chest as the newlywed couple drew close to each other to exchange a short kiss. The girl wondered why she felt like her heart was shattering at the sweet moment shared between the two.

Closing her eyes and shaking her head was a bad idea. The world fell away, replaced with another disgustingly sweet scene.  
The living room they now resided in was large and ornate. The husband stood, his back to the girl, in front of the room's main window. Outside, an abundance of snow fell from the evening sky, gently blanketing the ground in a soft quilt. As the man turned from the window, her breath hitched at the new sight.  
Carefully wrapped in his arms was a small bundle of cloth. He cooed at the bundle and as he lightly bounced it up and down, she caught a glimpse of brilliant blue eyes and a tuft of soff white hair poking out.  
Movement from within the bundle revealed a tiny, chubby arm fighting the cloth around it. When the arm finally won the battle, it reached up toward the man above, grasping clumsily at the air with slow fingers, and the bundle gurgled and garbled.  
The man smiled warmly down at his son, pride and love the only things present in his tired eyes.

A small giggle from behind the girl distracted her from the moment. On the other side of the room, beside a comforting crackling fire, the wife sat in a large cushioned armchair. Her hair had greyed slightly, and time had etched laugh lines permanently into her face. Around her, three additional children, all boys, entertained themselves with toys and their wild imaginations. How had the girl not noticed the three other children in the room until she saw the baby?

She didn’t want to see anymore of this. She didn’t want to be dreaming of things that didn’t make sense anymore.  
As though her will alone held the power to change the scene, the place became different but much the same.  
Another man and woman stood and sat in the same living room. An older child sat on her mother’s lap. Her hair was just as white as her parents. She was incredibly pretty with her locks framing her face and her blue glaciers staring in awe at her father as he did a mundane magic trick.  
They looked vaguely familiar to the girl. She couldn’t place them either. It was like all of her own memories were blocked off. Maybe this dream was someone else’s memories. Visions of the past. The notion fit well in the girl’s mind. 

The scene changed again as she thought to make something else replace the vision.  
The next one was of another family posing dutifully for what could only be a painted family portrait.

There was a man with black, greying hair, a woman and three children. They were young, but incredibly so.  
The smallest was a boy, his features most resembling their father, whilst all the girls appeared to have inherited the same snow white hair and bright blue eyes as their mother. It was strange yet so familiar.  
Why couldn’t she place who they were? 

As if to answer her question, darkness fell around the girl. She felt a shoulder bump into her from the left and she opened her eyes. Looking around, she was surprised to see she’d become one of the little girls. 

"Weiss, keep still and face forward." A deep voice said from above her.  
She looked up and saw the man with greying hair scowling at her. She winced as she felt the man pinch her back.  
She looked to her left and saw the young boy sitting next to her. The boy was smirking. The evil smile was gone before she even registered it.  
She flinched as the man pinched her back again. Now she decided it best to behave and faced forward.

Before she knew it, the pitch black void had taken over once more, soon to be replaced with flitting images of the family she’d seen. The visions clicked into place in her mind like a puzzle. There were still many pieces left to decipher, however...

They were her memories playing out in front of her. Her father's wrath, her tenth birthday, her mother’s inebriated state every time she saw her, her older sister leaving and her younger brother smirking or scowling like their father. It answered some of her questions; her name was Weiss. She still couldn’t figure out why this was happening and even more questions popped into existence. 

Her many questions were about to be answered as the memories faded away. She arrived in yet another different place. It was vastly different to where she’d been before. 

She looked around, trying to take in as much of her surroundings as possible. Everything was emblazoned in a dark red coming from outside. The sky was red, the sun or moon - she couldn’t tell - was red.  
She moved to take a step forward but an abrupt sound caught her attention, freezing her in place.  
It sounded like the clanking of chains.

Weiss turned slowly toward the sound. Chains clanked again as she faced something from a nightmare.  
A woman stood against a wall, wrapped and entwined in thickly linked metal. Red markings littered her face and arms. Her hair was as white as her own. She seemed to be familiar to Weiss but, again, she couldn’t place her.  
The woman looked to be unconscious and Weiss grew concerned for her, putting aside the sight of the red veins.  
She stepped towards the woman in chains and placed a hand on her shoulder. That was her first mistake.  
The woman jolted awake upon contact.  
"It seems you have found me, child." She spoke weakly, her voice slightly hoarse and cracked.

Weiss took a frightened step back at the colour of the woman’s eyes. Crimson with black scleras feebly staring into her blue ones. 

"Do not fear me, child. All I ask for is help to release me from these chains." The woman said, seemingly able to notice the younger girl’s growing fear.

‘What...what happened to you?’ Weiss questioned hesitantly, fear naturally spiking in her heart.

The woman seemed to need a moment to catch her breath. When she did, she answered. "Simply put, I was taken by someone and chained to this wall. I do not know who did this. Please, unchain me, I must sit."

Immediately, Weiss got to work on the chains, unwinding them and finding a problem straight away. She needed a key to unlock them.  
Stupidly, she looked around before smacking her own forehead. Why the hell would there be a key to the chains just lying around?

Shaking her head, the white-haired girl took a moment to think of a way to get the woman out of the chains. Then, she realised she could use something everyone had. Her aura.

Placing her hands on the heavy chains, she called upon her aura. Strangely enough, her aura came forth in a powerful surge.  
Wherever she was, she was so incredibly thankful that she could use the power of her soul.  
The power from within her coursed through her body and traveled up, winding around the stubborn metal. She’d never had this amount of power before.  
Weiss watched as the chains simply evaporated into thin air. She looked to the woman and felt her heart stop. 

"You know, you should never trust a stranger. Especially when they look like me." The woman said as she stood straight before plunging a hand into Weiss’ chest where her heart should be.  
"That said, I must thank you for releasing me from my prison. It has been too long. I was cursed so many years ago. Only someone of the same blood could release me. So, I thank you little Schnee." The woman said sadistically, an equally malicious grin on her face. 

"Who...who are you?" Weiss ground the word out, struggling for breath. Her legs wobbled dangerously.

The woman laughed maniacally. It was humourless and made Weiss’ skin crawl. "You really do not recognise me after everything I showed you? I am Salem, child and you are my rebirth. Your aura alone is filled with uncertain fear and it rejuvenates me. Now that I am free of my prison, I am going to make sure your world burns into nothingness, taking away everyone you love and cherish. But first, I think I will start with you." The woman, Salem, sneered, pushing her hand further into the younger girl’s chest.

Weiss screamed as a cold and painful feeling overtook her body. She threw her head back in pain before collapsing after Salem withdrew her hand. She writhed in agony on the ground, holding her hand over her heart.

Salem knelt down next to her and a sudden thought came to the young Schnee. Someone had described this woman before. Who was it? It was a long while ago. So who was it? They’d had a nightmare of the woman knelt beside her. Who the hell was it!?

Ruby.

The name popped into her mind instantly and the pain seemed to melt away. Memories of her partner floated into existence in her head. Everything they’d done and had been through. The day they met. The time Weiss had looked for Ruby in the woods and found her in a cave. The way she comforted the younger girl. The pain that erupted in her nose when Ruby punched her after waking from a nightmare. Other memories flirted through but one in particular stuck to her mind like glue.

A memory of the time Winter, Yang and herself found the facility and she searched desperately for Ruby. The fight. The injury. The kiss. Vague, fuzzy memories of coming around and finding herself wrapped tightly in her partners arms.

In an instant, the woman and everything around her vanished. Replacing it was the purity of light that swallowed everything once more.

The next thing she knew, she was opening her eyes to the sight of her partner. The woman’s voice echoing in her mind as she finally awoke from her coma. "Lucky break, child. I will be back for your soul when it is time. Goodbye little Schnee." The woman snarled before vanishing altogether.

* * *  
Weiss felt something clasping tightly onto her hand as she slowly opened her eyes. She could hear the sounds of a voice apologising over and over again. She didn’t like the sound of this person crying and apologising. So to alert the person holding her that she was finally awake, she weakly squeezed the gloved hand.  
Someone else in the room gasped and the person at her bedside abruptly stood, seeing her awake. New tears threatened to escape their confines. The dream she’d dreamt disappeared from her thoughts, forgotten in a swirling mix of several different emotions running through her head.

“Weiss? Weiss can you hear me?”  
Before she could try to respond to her partner, she felt something uncomfortable in her throat, making her want to gag and choke on it.

Ruby noticed immediately and it seemed the other person in the room did too. 

The second person turned out to be the younger Schnee's older sister. “I’ll get a doctor.” Winter said but didn’t get very far as Ruby responded.  
“No time.”  
She reached into Weiss' open mouth and precisely grabbed onto the thing causing the obstruction, pulling it without hesitation. At once, the former heiress coughed and spluttered, trying to get in an unassisted breath. 

Again, Ruby acted quickly and sat her up, patting her back to help her get a much needed breath in.  
Soon enough, she was able to take in the oxygen her body desperately needed, breathing in deeply.  
The younger girl, keeping a gentle grip on her, gently laid her back down onto the bed then reached for something. Weiss realised she was lifting the head of bed upright, enabling her to sit up and look around the room.  
First things first, she needed a drink of water. She tried to speak but nothing came out. She watched as her faunus partner tilted her cutely, bringing a small smile to her face at the action. 

She tried again and Ruby seemed to have understood what she wanted, walking over to a sink and filling a plastic cup. 

The younger girl took it upon herself to look after the former heiress. Getting her more water and making sure she was comfortable. What neither of them realised was that Winter had called upon the doctor to check over Weiss. That meant their time together was already running short.

“Miss Rose.” Ruby looked to the older Schnee. “A doctor and a few nurses will be on their way here any moment. I suggest you get out of here before they do.” 

Weiss looked between the two, seeing her partner’s crestfallen face and her sister’s stern expression. 

“But...but she’s just woken up. I can’t go, not yet. Not now.” She heard her partner plead. 

Her sister responded to the young Reaper but Weiss didn’t pay attention as she got lost in her sluggish thoughts.  
It seemed she was right. Ruby did have a bounty on her head. It didn’t surprise her as much as it should have.  
Before she knew it, Ruby was slowly moving towards the open window. She glanced back at Weiss, a sad look etched onto her face. Before Weiss could say anything, Ruby had already activated her semblance and disappeared into the night, her voice seemingly echoing her goodbye and the promise to see her again. 

* * *

A few days passed and Weiss hadn’t heard anything from her partner. She was thought to be dead though so the former heiress wasn’t actually surprised.  
The dream she’d had whilst in her coma still lay forgotten in the deepest depths of her mind, awaiting the time to return. 

Winter had told her everything that had happened within the facility, finding Ruby and Blake walking up the long elevator shaft, stopping them and taking over getting her the medical attention she needed. Ruby had vanished into thin air after that. Her older sister had reported the young Reaper to have perished in the facility to the military. Weiss had first hand experience into how alive Ruby was.

Winter also told her that Ruby had been visiting her quite often but then disappeared for a long while before randomly turning up again a few days ago. She didn’t, however, tell Weiss of the many disturbing reports she’d received about the young Reaper. The white-haired girl had found out on her own by anonymously breaking into top secret Atlas Military files. It was illegal by all means but she was bored to death just sitting in the hospital room with nothing else to do.  
She didn’t believe any of the reports at all. Some said her partner was still dead and others said she was alive and reaping the lives of those she saw fit to move onto their next life.

“Weiss. We need to talk.” Winter said, breaking the younger Schnee out of her thoughts.

“About what, exactly?” She replied, her voice still slightly weak.

“About that partner of yours.” Came the curt response.

Weiss noticed her sister wouldn’t meet her gaze, knowing full well what she was going to say. Her sister was rarely the one to look away or show any kind of nervousness but here she was, refusing to Weiss’ eyes.

“What about her, Winter?” Weiss replied back, her voice just as curt as her sister’s.

Slightly darker blue orbs flitted to cloudy, icy ones before looking away again. A sigh escaped the older Schnee’s lips before she answered the question she didn’t want to answer.  
“You know I care about you, a lot. And I know you want to see her again but I can’t let you. She’s dangerous and I shouldn’t have let her live, let alone escape. She killed four newly graduated huntsmen a few months back and I keep receiving sighting reports from other huntsmen and military personnel.”

Winter was definitely holding information back but the younger Schnee didn’t question it. Instead she mulled over the given answer, her brow furrowing deeply and her lips straightening into a thin line. 

She did not like her sister’s answer one bit. Ruby was a good person and the Atlas Military had no proof whatsoever that her partner had indiscriminately killed huntsmen a few months back. They had no proof that Ruby had become the unrelenting force previously named the Crimson Reaper. Her partner would never, ever go rogue without reason. Ruby had begun to wear her emotions on her sleeve, showing everyone; mainly Weiss, that she was kind, caring and determined to do what it took to help the people of Remnant. Even if it meant she became a monster in the end.

Unreasonable anger began to swallow her rational thoughts, crawling into her heart and wanting to take over. It spread into her veins and down to her hands, making her clench her fists. It was boiling the crimson liquid flowing through her, eventually finding its way into her head. She snapped an instant later, the rage the only thing she could think of.

“If you cared about me so much, you would let me see Ruby! She is not dangerous and your shitty excuse is wrong! She would never kill huntsmen without rational thought! Even then, she would never sink so low. She would never go rogue without good reason!” The former heiress screamed, the rage well and truly controlling her thoughts.

Winter was taken aback by the sudden, wrath-filled outburst; shocked beyond comprehension. She stared, wide-eyed at her younger sister. She didn’t understand why her sister had exploded like she had. She would’ve understood slight anger but not this. Not full on, blood boiling fury.

The older woman chanced a step forward and then two. And then another. “Weiss-“  
She tried, immediately being interrupted.

“Don’t.” The younger Schnee warned, her voice venomous and dangerously low.

Winter stopped and took a moment to look her sister over, staying silent so as not to anger her anymore than she already was.  
Her younger sister was breathing heavily, her fists clenched and her eyes shut just as tightly.  
It was then that Winter noticed something odd about her. She tried to look closer from where she stood but still couldn’t quite see what was appearing on Weiss’ chest.  
It seemed to be growing like tree roots searching for water, slowly climbing up the younger Schnee’s chest, appearing just above the neckline of her hospital gown.

“Weiss. There’s…there’s something on your chest.” Winter said, her concern showing in her voice. She never stuttered but she just did. She was never frightened. But she was. 

Weiss snapped her eyes up to her older sister, glaring unrepentantly at her. Winter gasped and did something she’d not done in many years. She retreated. Her fear was growing rapidly from the sight in front of her.

Seeing her older sister step back with a look of utter fear on her face, Weiss snapped out of her anger so fast it was like it never even existed in the first place. 

“Winter...what’s wrong?” She hesitantly asked, starting to get out of bed. 

“Your...your eyes. They are...they're like a Reaper’s.” Came the surprisingly frightened reply.

Weiss didn’t believe her at first, not until she grabbed the small mirror on her bedside. Her own gasp sounded throughout the room as her reflection looked back with eyes the colour of blood. She then brought the mirror down ever so slightly, remembering what Winter had said before the mention of her eyes.  
Black vein-like marks marred the pale skin of her chest. It was over her heart where she’d felt the unreasonable anger begin a few moments ago.

“What the..?” She muttered, slightly pulling down the top of her hospital gown to find more black veins underneath.  
They were no longer growing now but sinking back into her skin. Apart from one small mark on her still covered breast.

The white-haired girl looked up to her older sister, relief visibly washing over the older woman as she saw Weiss’ eyes fade back to their normal icy blue. The older woman still radiated fear and panic but it was slowly settling back into concern.

“What was that?” Weiss asked suddenly. 

Winter’s expression turned back to concern.  
“I don’t know. I should get the doctor to do some tests.” She said, turning on her heel to walk out of the hospital room.

Weiss stopped her before she went, calling out to her. “No. I don’t think any doctor can tell us what just happened.”

The older sister glanced over her shoulder and questioned, “What do you suggest then?”

The white-haired girl didn’t even need to think of the answer. It was staring her right in the face. “Find Ruby or Qrow. Either of them might know.”

Winter simply nodded stiffly before finally walking out of the sterilised room, leaving Weiss to her thoughts and memories of her partner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo, that marks the end of chapter 2! I hope you all enjoyed and I hope I’ve made you want to ask a billion questions. I’ll be waiting~
> 
> Anyways, imma leave you all to your morning/afternoon/evening before I give any plot secrets away. (I’m looking at a certain CR artist XD)  
> Thanks for reading guys and I’ll see you in a weeks times, unless I get impatient and end up posting it before a week is up.  
> Next is Chapter 3: Interrogation Part 1


	3. Interrogation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake is interrogated by Special Operative Winter Schnee about why she betrayed her friends and whether or not she has information on the reasons behind everything to do with Jacques, Adam and facility.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I think I’m a day early in posting the chapter but who cares!   
> I certainly don’t and I’m gonna guess you lot don’t either!  
> I am quite aware that I said this chapter would be put into two parts. I managed to get it all into one chapter.   
> Anyways, imma let you all get onto reading the new chapter. 
> 
> Side note: make sure you read the end authors note. I have two things to announce.

How in Remnant could two weeks feel so long? Well, when you give yourself up outside an illegal research facility because you’re thought to be a criminal, you tend to be put in a cell to await interrogation and a trial.

What Blake didn’t expect, however, was to be taken to a top secret military base in the never ending frozen tundra of Solita, hundreds of miles away from any civilisation.   
The trip hadn’t taken long, especially since the journey was most taken by airship. Unfortunately, the cat faunus had been blind-folded the second she stepped onto the air vehicle, not even knowing where they were taking her. None of the military personnel had spoken to her the entire way until she’d found herself in a prison cell.

It was surprisingly spacious for a place to put suspected criminals; there was a shockingly clean toilet and sink in the bottom left corner, a sturdy, comfortable (ish) bed in the far right corner and a privatised shower cubicle in the top left corner. It even came with a small jar of soap and a small bottle of cheap shampoo.   
If this was a prison in Atlas, it was by far the most luxurious to be in.

On the downside, however, there was fuck all to do. Books were brought every few days in between being interrogated, meals were placed through a slat at the bottom of the thick metal cell door and there was actually a small amount of exercise equipment such as a yoga mat and a pull up bar attached to the left hand wall. 

Still, there wasn’t much to do apart from read, exercise, eat, sleep and shower. So, that’s what Blake was currently doing; exercising.

Pulling herself up and slowly letting herself back down on the pull up bar, sweat travelled down her forehead and back, dripping onto the floor. She’d opted to try and keep her clothes as clean as possible by working out with just her sports bra and boy-shorts. 

That was probably a mistake.

After two weeks of being in the cell, she’d only been out of it five times for interrogation. Each time, she refused to answer their questions and requested that she talk to Winter Schnee, otherwise they wouldn’t get the answers they wanted.

The cat faunus knew she was being picky and understood that they’d get the answers either way but she just couldn’t stand any of the high ranking Atlas Military personnel. They were stuck up for a start. Way worse than what Weiss used to be. They seemed to hate faunus for no reason other than they were different, often spouting ‘you animals should be kept in cages and sold like slaves or cattle’ or something of the like.   
Blake hated it and hated them.

To make matters worse, the prison guards were unnecessarily rough with her, often grabbing her wrists so tight it hurt and left a mark. Some of them even resorted to making the cuffs too tight that they cut into her skin. There were still small scabs on her wrists where the metal had dug into her flesh. She always tried not to wince or make any sort of expression to show she was in pain. She wouldn’t give them the satisfaction, often keeping her face expressionless. 

Bringing herself out of her thoughts of the prison staff, she finished her workout and wiped herself down. She was about to strip completely and get in the shower but unfortunately, the annoying, loud announcement for her to prepare to be interrogated again sounded out. 

Sighing, she dressed quickly and stood facing the far wall with her hands placed in large white circles and her feet in the ones on the floor. She schooled her features into something that wouldn’t let the prison staff know she was annoyed, in pain or anything. 

Immediately after placing her limbs in the correct places, the locks on the cell door clicked, the door silently opening. The raven-haired girl heard the distinct sound of heavy combat boots hitting the floor as the prison guards stepped into her cell.   
They didn’t say anything and just walked up to her. Two of the guards kept rifles pointed to her chest whilst a third grabbed her wrists roughly and locked them in metal, aura repressing cuffs as tightly as they would go. 

She wanted to wince from the pain but hid it well enough that the racist pricks would know any different.   
The guard that cuffed her grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, making her nearly fall over. She saw a malicious smirk on his face and prepared herself to be pushed or tripped.

It was a good thing she did because as she predicted, the guard still had a hold of her shoulder and pulled her over his outstretched foot.   
The cat faunus stumbled as she tried to steady herself, only to be caught off guard by another racist idiot’s foot.   
As she fell, she caught sight of the glee in the three guard’s eyes. She hit the ground face first, cursing the aura repressing cuffs to high hell in her head as her nose was crushed under the weight of herself.   
Blood poured from her nose as a disgusting crack resonated throughout the cell and her sight blurred, black spots floating in her eyes.

This time, she couldn’t hold in the groan of pain or the wince as she was roughly picked up under the arms. For now, she ignored the joyful, maniacal looks the guards were giving her. She could’ve sworn she heard one of them say something about cats landing on their feet. She paid it no mind, trying to concentrate on getting her aura to lessen the pain in her nose. Of course, it wasn’t working.

Now they’d had their fun, the guards ‘escorted’ her to an interrogation room, practically dragging her through the never ending halls of cells.  
She couldn’t even think straight let alone memorise the layout. And she couldn’t even remember getting to the interrogation room and being chained to the table in the middle. 

As her vision and thoughts began to clear, she noticed one of the guards looking at her in sympathy before they left and locked the door behind them. It seemed she was going to be waiting awhile for the next racist prick to ask her questions she wouldn’t answer.

Twenty minutes passed by when the door finally opened. Her vision was still swimming with black spots but the sight of white in the doorway seemed to make them go away immediately.

Winter Schnee stood in all her grace and glory, her authoritative, imposing stance something to be intimidated by. The cold glare of hard, icy blue eyes only made it worse. Even then, Blake couldn’t look away. The woman was simply stunning. Of course, she wouldn’t voice that thought or any thoughts unless it was to answer a question.

“What in the brother’s names happened to you?” The white-haired goddess of a woman inquired, raising a perfectly shaped white eyebrow.

“I tripped in the hall on the way here.” Blake responded and winced. Her voice sounded weird and muffled.

“Uh huh. I’ll believe that when Grimm become extinct.” Winter said disbelievingly, turning to leave again. “I’ll be back in a moment.” She added before shutting and locking the door.

Blake could only concentrate on the pain her nose was causing her. She couldn’t even think about anything other than the agony she was in.   
Soon enough though, Winter re-entered the room, a lidded cup in one hand and tissues in the other. She placed them in front of the raven-haired girl and took out a box of painkillers from a hidden pocket, placing them in front of her too.

Next, she took out a small key and put them into the small keyhole on the cuffs, releasing the cat faunus from the tight restraints. 

Winter sighed before taking one of her hands and looking over the small scabs and newly formed cuts.   
“They really don’t learn. I’ll be having words with the imbeciles.”

“You really don’t need to do that. I’m used to it.” Blake responded quietly, wincing again as the older woman pressed one of the old cuts.

Winter looked up at the response, raising an eyebrow again at the words the younger woman said. “You shouldn’t be used to it. It’s wrong and disgusting behaviour on the guards part. Tell me, did they do that to you?” She inquired, looking right into Blake’s eyes.

How could the cat faunus possibly lie to Weiss’ sister? Maybe the guards did deserve some sort of punishment for their behaviour but undoubtedly, they’d been behaving this way for a long time. 

So instead of trying to come up with a lie she replied truthfully, even if it meant the guards would treat her even worse for grassing on them.  
“Yes.”   
It was a simple word but it still made her nose flare up again. 

“Okay. I’ll deal with them later. Is it just them or are there others?” The caring tone the Schnee had whilst asking her another question astounded the cat faunus. It was very strange to be cared about by a Schnee, let alone two of them. “Well? Are there any others treating you like an animal?”

Blake winced internally or externally, she couldn’t actually tell, at the wording of the older woman’s question. Still, she answered the question truthfully. “Yes, most of the guards and the high ranked military personnel treat me like that.” 

“I see…” Winter said, trailing off as she began to think. She shook her head and gently grasped the cat faunus’ chin, trying to see the damage to her nose through all the blood. “You might want to clean up the blood so I can have a proper look.

Blake let her, keeping as still as she could as the older woman looked her over.   
She took a tissue from the table and tried to wipe away as much of the blood as possible. By now, it was almost dry though and would take a proper shower to clean it off. Plus it was a little painful to wipe around her broken nose. 

“Before I start asking questions, your nose is going to need to be put back in place. Either you can do it or I can do it.” Winter said, eyeing her broken nose, knowing it was going to hurt either way.

“Errrm…Could you...er...could you do it?” The faunus said, stumbling over words in embarrassment.

“Of course. You’re going to need to stay as still as possible. Don’t move until after I have put it back in place.” The Schnee explained, moving closer to the younger woman and placing one hand on the back of Blake’s head with the other moving towards her nose. She hesitated before taking two tissues from the table and placing them under the young adult’s bloodied nose.  
“You might want to hold this here.”

“O-okay.” She did as she was told whilst Winter places her forefinger and thumb on the broken facial feature.

“Good. I’m going to count to three and then put it back in place.” The white-haired woman said before counting. “One...two-“

Of course, she didn’t go on three because that usually makes the pain worse. The crack of a nose being put back into its usual place seemed to echo out.  
“Three.” Winter finished as Blake yelped.

A small amount of blood escaped, thankfully being caught by the tissues she’d been given. Her eyes watered as the stinging only got worse. 

“Apologies but it had to be done.” Winter said, moving away and sitting down. “Take two of those and you’ll be fine.”  
She gestured to the painkillers she’d almost forgotten she’d brought along with the drink.

Blake did so, smiling slightly at the taste of camomile tea. It was lukewarm now but it was still nice to drink other than tepid water.

As Blake sipped and savoured the tea, Winter took out a small recording device and placed it in front of herself. She waited patiently for the younger woman to finish her drink.   
Of course, she saved half of it for when her throat would inevitably go dry from the array of questions Winter no doubt had for her.

The younger woman’s interest was piqued when the older of the two pressed a small button on the device and placed it in the centre of the table.  
“What’s that for?” She asked curiously.

“To record your answers and to make sure I don’t say anything I’m not supposed to. Why do you ask?” Winter explained, raising an eyebrow as she inquired Blake’s curiosity.

“The others that tried to interrogate me didn’t use one. Is it wrong that they didn’t?” The cat faunus questioned back, becoming concerned but glad she hadn’t said anything to the racist military personnel.

“Oh yes. It is illegal for anyone to be questioned without it being recorded. I shall have words with them about that as well. Now.” The Schnee explained, pausing to restart the recording device but hesitating and leaving it be.  
“Shall we start?”

“Yes.” Came the simple reply.

“Okay.” Winter paused again, getting her thoughts organised before starting. “Special Operative Winter Schnee beginning the questioning of Prisoner 6-5-3-3-Belladonna. Time is 13:36 on the date of April 16th 2061 ABG (After Brother Gods). Please state your full name, birthdate and birthplace.”  
The older woman’s voice switched to professional and authoritative, like she’d done this several times before.

“Blake Belladonna, January 19th 2043 ABG, Menagerie.” Blake responded, keeping her voice as clear as she could.

“Now, I want to know why you betrayed not just Remnant on the whole but your friends and family to join Jacques Schnee and Adam Taurus in their endeavour to take over the world.” Winter inquired, not exactly asking for an answer but demanding one.  
She was clearly annoyed at the younger woman’s betrayal.

“I didn’t betray anyone out of choice. I was held against my will and my captors ensured I’d do as they said.” The cat faunus replies, finding it difficult not to fidget at the icy gaze of the Schnee.

“Elaborate please. Who were your captors? What happened for them to give you no choice?” The specialist demanded.

Blake sighed, starting to fidget with her finger. It wasn’t something she usually did but the woman in front of her made her nervous for some reason. Maybe it was because she’d betrayed Weiss and Winter was just subtly trying to get to the bottom of it all.

Still, she replied honestly.   
“Well, I was ambushed by Adam in Vale. I’d left the White Fang behind, betraying them because I didn’t agree with what Adam’s sector was doing. He caught up to me, abducted me and knocked me out.” She paused, raking a steadying deep breath. “I woke up tied to a chair in an old building with a screen in front of me. Adam wasn’t there but as soon as I woke up, the screen came on. It was a live video feed of someone else tied to a chair with a bag on their head.”   
She’d never forget any of what she’d seen. Recounting what had happened for the first time since it happened was much harder than she thought. It made her chest tighten and her throat close up. Her mouth felt like a dessert but her hands were cold and clammy.

“The bag was taken off and it turned out to be an old childhood friend of mine. She looked...broken. More broken than when her parents died. It got worse when two White Fang grunts started torturing her. I couldn’t watch but Adam came up behind me and held my head in place, making me watch everything they did to her. It was...it was horrible.” Her voice cracked as she spoke and she quickly took a soothing sip of camomile tea before continuing.  
“Adam...he whispered into my ear that I would do everything he said or it wouldn’t just be my old friend in that chair. My current friends and parents would be captured and tortured slowly before being killed. I couldn’t let that happen so I went with anything and everything Adam told me to. Thankfully he never told me to kill anyone, just help him abduct human and faunus children.”

The cat faunus had finally finished her explanation, whether anyone would believe her was a different story. She hoped at least Winter and her friends would believe her. If not, she had no idea what she’d do.

“Would you like a moment to calm down and wipe your tears away before we continue?” Winter asked, concern lacing her voice.

Blake’s hand shot up to her face and sure enough, she was crying without even realising it. Recounting everything must have had a bigger impact on her than she’d originally thought. She didn’t usually cry without knowing about it.   
Picking up another tissue from the table, she wiped her eyes, took a sip of her cold tea and cleared her throat.  
“Okay, we can continue.” She said quietly, unsure if she did want to carry on or not.

“Are you sure?” Come another concerned question from the white-haired woman.

“Y-yes.” She said, sounding just as unsure as she felt but she knew Winter’s questions needed answers. Steeling herself, she repeated herself, sounding more sure than before. “Yes. I’m sure.”

“Okay.” The older woman said, gathering her thoughts once more. “Why did you never tell anyone about what happened? There was the staff at Beacon Academy and your friends to tell.” 

“They already had enough to deal with, what with Ruby and Weiss searching for who took her as a child. I know I could’ve told her but they either wouldn’t have believed me or they would’ve rejected me from the team. Plus, Adam threatened that if I ever told anyone, he’d make sure my parents would suffer slowly and painfully. He never went back on his word when he was with the White Fang so I didn’t question his threat.” The raven-haired girl replied as calmly as she could.

“I see. But you do realise that you could have ensured Ruby did not get abducted by turning against Adam, right? I’m sure all four of you could have taken him out without any difficulty. Or am I wrong?” Winter said, clearly questioning everything Blake ever did to try and protect her friends. 

“I could have betrayed Adam again but that would’ve just ended in all of our deaths. Ruby wasn’t the same person you saw in the facility as she was in the Emerald Forest. She was skilled but far from finished with her training. Plus, the hatred she harboured for Adam dulled her rational thoughts and stopped her from fighting efficiently. Weiss still hadn’t figured out summoning either and would’ve followed Ruby into anything. Yang, she had a temper. A really bad temper and became flustered too easily. And myself, I was too scared of Adam to defy him. I wouldn’t have been able to fight to my full potential because of that fear.” The cat faunus explained, obviously having thought of it all on several occasions. She still fiddled with her fingers and her fluffy cat ears flicked about from nervousness.

“So, what you are saying is, Adam would have killed you and your friends without much effort because you were all compromised by certain emotions?” Winter said, following up on the new information.

“Yes. But it wasn’t just our emotions that would’ve caused us to be defeated. We were a fairly new team and still figuring things out. We were more independent than what a team was supposed to be.” The raven-haired faunus expounded, laying her hands flat on the table. She added, “Unless I wanted my team, my new friends to die, I had to go along with whatever Adam said. I tried to say no when he ordered me to help him take Ruby but, he knew I’d do it if I didn’t want my parents to die.”

“I see. To me, it is clear that you did indeed have no other choice. Now,” the white-haired woman said, pausing for effect. “Do you know why Adam Taurus joined Jacques Schnee? What did he have to gain for joining someone like Jacques?”

Blake stopped and thought for a moment, trying to gather the information she’d found in the facility in the right places of her mind. She’d done a lot of snooping around whenever Adam was either on a mission or just not around. The amount of information she’d found was astounding considering everything was supposed to be locked away. Most of the vital information she’d found was all in Jacques’ office but getting into that room was near impossible when the SDC CEO was in.   
What made it easier was the fact that Jacques had gone to Beacon to retrieve Weiss and Adam had gone on an assassination mission. 

“To start, a good amount of money. Adam needed money after he basically abandoned the White Fang. Another reason would be Jacques offered him equal rights for faunus in ‘the new world’ since they’d be playing a big part in taking over. 99% of the children, teenagers and young adults in the facility were faunus. About 80% of them were faunus born whilst only 20% were human born turned faunus.” Blake replied, remembering the procedure in which the human born victims would be painfully turned into a faunus, simultaneously slowly being changed into Reapers.

“Tell me, how did the human-born victims become faunus in the first place? How does Ruby Rose fit into all of this?” Was Winter’s next follow up questions.

Blake was ready for these questions and it would be a long explanation. She hoped the older woman was ready to hear the horrors of the facility and their depraved experiments.  
First though, she needed to explain how she knew all of this information.

“Whenever I was left ‘alone’ in the facility, I often took it upon myself to look around for anything that could be used as evidence for something like this. I have several photos of documents of almost everything to do with what was happening to the kids.” She said, beginning her explanation.

Winter raised a perfect white eyebrow and asked the obvious question. “What does any of that have to do with the questions I just asked?”

“Well, when Ruby was taken the first time, they took hair, blood, skin and urine samples to make sure they had a record of her DNA. They used a new dust to turn her into a faunus-“  
Blake said, just getting into what she’d found.

“But how did it work in the first place?” The white-haired woman interrupted.

“They mixed the DNA of a wolf faunus with the dust and her own Reaper DNA to succeed. Unfortunately for Ruby, it took them years to figure out, making her suffer through experiment after experiment. For some reason they also injected her with a dust that wipes memories. The more they used, the more memories were wiped.” Blake explained easily, feeling guilty all of a sudden that she couldn’t do anything to help the cloaked girl in the facility.

“So why did Jacques decide it was necessary to turn, not just Ruby but other young people into faunus?” Came the next question, puzzlement etching itself onto the Schnee’s face from trying to understand everything.

“The facility scientists found that faunus DNA was much more resilient than that of human DNA. Most of the human children brought in died not long after being injected with Ruby’s Reaper DNA whereas the faunus kids didn’t and just became something like half Reapers. So, the human children were then made to suffer through being changed into faunus so they didn’t die. It was trial and error, at least half of them passing away through the procedure. Of course, they eventually used the faunus/Reaper DNA they’d taken from Ruby to try and change them instead. It worked and from there onwards, Jacques created an army that would’ve been unstoppable. The children became monsters and incredibly strong once they went through training.” The cat faunus said, finishing her stupidly long explanation.

“So, let me get this straight. Jacques orchestrated or planned to create an army of unstoppable beings to take over the world with Ruby Rose as the main link? Why did he need Ruby after gaining access to her DNA? Why take her again?” The older woman inquired right away.

“Because, Ruby is one of the only full-blooded Reapers left in the whole world. The new army wouldn’t have listened to a normal human or a normal faunus. Ruby was supposed to lead the entire army into battle. Of course, it didn’t happen because she found out the truth. And it was a way to keep her away from Weiss.” Came another easy reply from the cat faunus.

“Okay, that does not surprise me in the least. Jacques Schnee was and had always been a homophobic man. But, why choose Ruby to lead the army? Why take her as a child and not her mother because as I understand, Ruby’s mother was also a full-blooded Reaper.” 

“Well, Ruby’s mother was the original target but once they found out about Ruby, they changed to taking her instead. A child’s mind can be easily manipulated and they can learn much faster than any adult. With Ruby’s mother being an adult, she would’ve fought tooth and nail to keep from becoming a bad person. They had her killed to make sure she wouldn’t go after them to get Ruby back.” Blake explained, starting to fiddle with her finger again.

“How in Remnant do you know all of this?” Came the skeptical question.

“Like I said, I did a lot of snooping around when I was left alone in the facility. I have it all on my scroll but it was confiscated when I first arrived. There’s even vital video footage that’ll make even you squirm.” She answered, shrugging her shoulders.

“Really? Well, in any case, I think we will finish this interrogation. If there are any other questions, expect to be brought back here. Special Operative Winter Schnee ending informational Interview. Time is 15:42 on sign off.” The specialist said, picking up the recording device and turning it off.

A sudden thought invaded the cat faunus’ mind and she wasn’t going anywhere until she voiced her newest concern.  
“Will I be having a trial or will I be staying here for the rest of my life?” 

The older woman stopped what she was doing and glanced up, eyeing the younger woman carefully before responding. “You won’t be going to trial but the answer to your other question, it remains to be seen. However, I will see what I can do to make sure you don’t end up being kept here for life.” 

“O-okay. Thank you, I guess.” Came the disappointed reply.

With that, Winter reattached the cuffs to Blake’s wrists, keeping them loose so as not to aggravate the scabs and cuts. She first escorted the younger woman to an infirmary, had her nose and wrists checked out and then escorted her back to the spacious cell where there was still a splash of blood on the floor.   
Blake heard a sigh escape from the white-haired woman before she disappeared and returned a moment later with the prison guards that had assaulted the cat faunus.

Lost in her thoughts, Blake only heard bits of Winter chewing out the guards and telling them to report to her office in twenty minutes after they cleaned up the dried blood stains on the floor. All Blake wanted to do was take a shower and read until lights out. But that wasn’t going to happen until the idiot guards finished cleaning the floor.   
They took their time, being chewed out some more by the specialist for doing a shitty job. 

Eventually, the guards finished and Winter marched them into the hall, closing the door and yelling at them as they quickly walked down the hall of cells. It grew quiet and that left Blake to take a much needed shower and get as comfortable as she could on the bed to read until it was time to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okaaaay. I hope you all now understand why Blake did what she did. Plus, she gave vital information too.
> 
> Anyways, those announcements I promised.  
> 1\. As some of you will know from my tumblr page, I’ve been writing something new. It’s going to be a Halloween Horror Short. Well, it’s not so much as a short anymore than when I first started. If it gets enough interest on the comments section of this chapter, I’ll gladly post it before Halloween. If not, then it’ll be posted on the 31st as I’ve planned.
> 
> 2\. I have created a new private group on Facebook dedicated to the CRAU series. There will be regular updates on new chapters, snippets of new chapters that have yet to be posted as well as regular new fanart by our very own Akakumu43.   
> You can chat about the story series, the artwork, post other people’s fanart and suggest other fanfiction to other members. You can even come up with your own small stories relating to the CRAU series. Do whatever you want as long as you obey the rules. If you wish to join, search up Crimson Reaper AU in the groups panel on Facebook.
> 
> So, that’s it for now and I hope to at least see some of you on the private group. And I really, really hope that my horror ‘short’ receives a good amount of interest.  
> Anyways, goodbye for now and happy reading! :)
> 
> Next to come is Chapter 4: Memories


	4. Red Tinged Silver

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang has been placed in a rehabilitation centre for the victims of Jacques Schnee’s facility. Everyone she asks about the incident either lies to her or doesn’t answer at all. So, Yang wants to find the answers herself, starting with research into the facility and the Crimson Reaper.  
> Unfortunately, the blonde has no idea what’s going to happen whilst she’s planning her escape from the rehab centre.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeey guyyys. Sorry that this is a week late. Those of you who are on tumblr or the discord server will know that I somehow lost the original chapter I’d written up. So I had to rewrite the entire thing. But alas, I did and here it is.   
> I have a surprise for you all at the end as well. Some of you will know what it is and most of you won’t. 
> 
> But without further ado, here’s chapter 4. Enjoy!

It had been three months since the facility incident, not that Yang could remember much of it. Or anything really. Well, the blonde  _ did _ remember some things now, mostly her combat training, her Dad and Uncle Qrow and parts of her childhood. Countless memories were vague and fuzzy for her childhood. She tried not to let it bother her too much but in reality, it frustrated her to no end.

Most of the time, she was only ever given flashes of random images, always being so vague they confused and aggravated her. Some were of red tinged silver eyes and a red cloak, others were of white hair or black cat ears.

Yang had an inkling that these random visions were parts of memories she was supposed to remember, that they were of people she should know, like they were family of some sort. No matter how much the blonde tried to force the memories to come to her, they wouldn’t budge and always just gave her a headache instead.

In the last three months, Yang had gone from being in an Atlasien Hospital to being placed in a secure rehabilitation centre for the countless victims of Jacques Schnee’s power hungry endeavours. The blonde had been told of the events but even then it was only small things. 

Nothing of her friends were mentioned, just that she herself had helped to stop the plans of world domination. High ranking Atlas Military personnel had also told her she’d been gravely injured in the facility. Everything they told her, Yang knew it wasn’t the whole truth.

Considering it was Jacques’ eldest daughter that had told the blonde of the facility incident and some of what had happened, she still didn’t trust anything that was said. Not with the flashes and visions of silver eyes and a Grimm hand protruding from her stomach. It didn’t surprise Yang that a Schnee would lie, especially when related to Jacques’.

As that last thought crossed her mind, she frowned, somehow knowing that it wasn’t the whole Schnee family to blame for one’s misgivings.

Dismissing the ugly thoughts entirely, she sighed and stood from her bed, walked over to the barred windows and looked out. There wasn’t much to see, just other buildings and snow. It was like she was in prison, not a rehab center with the amount of rules and the totally unfair curfew. 

Watching the snow drift lazily past the window, Yang became lost in thought once more, thinking of the red tinged silver eyes that haunted her every waking moment and every nightmare. 

Every time the blonde asked her Dad about silver eyes and a red cloak, he deflected with a sad look in his eyes by either changing the subject or announcing he had something to do. Yang was beginning to think no one wanted her to know the truth, to know who the person was with silver eyes. It was so frustrating.

Ever since arriving in the rehab centre, Yang had opted into staying in her assigned room after causing a doctor some not so nice injuries when he’d grabbed her the wrong way. She didn’t want to hurt anyone else that didn’t deserve it. 

A knock on the door broke the blonde out of her thoughts, the door slowly opening to reveal a nurse. 

“Yang? Your father called and told us to tell you he can’t make it today. He said he’s sorry and that a big job has come up he can’t refuse.” The nurse announced, not quite looking into Yang’s crimson gaze. 

“Okay. Do you happen to know what the job is?” The blonde inquires, tilting her head to the side slightly. 

The nurse hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether or not it was a good idea that the younger girl know. Finally, she decided what to answer with. “I think it has something to do with the murders of four huntsmen deep in the forests.”

“Murders?” Yang parroted, her gaze still on the nurse.

“Yes. Between you and me, I reckon it was the Crimson Reaper. So do many others actually.” The nurse said, going into a whisper and looking around in case she was being listened to by someone else.

“The Crimson Reaper? Who’s that?” Came the next two curious questions.

“You’ve never heard of the Crimson Reaper? You really mustn’t restrict yourself to just this room. Go for a walk, read a book, play a board game or go onto the computers. It’s not healthy being in one room all the time.” The nurse responded, concern lacing her voice. Though it sounded fake to Yang.

The blonde didn’t reply, beginning to think about a red cloak again. She needed answers, so what would be the harm in researching everything she could. Not that online articles would tell her everything. The main two leads she had were, the facility incident and the Crimson Reaper. 

Finally, the blonde decided what she needed to do and replied with her own questions. “This place has computers? Can you show me where they are please?

“Of course. Follow me.”

And with that, Yang and the nurse made their way down a long hall and into a recreation room. Several people, mostly young teenagers and adults milled about in the room. A few were playing board games, others were just talking and a few were reading. No one was on the lone computer. Thank the gods.

After thanking the nurse, Yang strolled over to it and looked horrified at how ancient it was. Still, she sat down, turned it on and got to researching what she needed to.

Several articles popped up for the Crimson Reaper, including old wanted posters and tributes to the murder victims. 

The newest article was of the most recent deaths. The headline read:

Four Huntsmen Brutally Murdered In Forest

Yang became enthralled with the article, reading over everything and paying particular attention to the exact location of the crime. 

_ Four newly graduated Huntsmen were murdered deep in the Atlas Forest. Their deaths were only discovered after one of the victims pleaded for help over their intercom. Atlas Military Personnel responded as quickly as they could in response.  _

_ The victims looked to be attacked and pursued by one or two people. It is unclear at the moment how many people there actually were. Atlas Military have not commented on the matter. _

_ Many people from the general public have theorised that the once dreaded Crimson Reaper is alive, even after being reported dead from the facility incident approximately three months ago. Many speculate the Crimson Reaper is back for revenge but others debunk the theory and say it was most likely either a Grimm attack or a group of rogue Huntsmen.  _

_ Atlas Police Department and several teams of veteran Huntsman are yet to sweep the area for any signs of the attackers and why it happened in the first place. The location of the crime scene has been kept from the general public and only those that are working the case know it. This is to keep as many people safe as possible and to discourage anyone from going into the forest. The Police have already put out a warning that if anyone enters the forest at this time, they will be arrested, fined and prosecuted.  _

  
Yang couldn’t be bothered to read the rest after finding nothing useful in it, although there was a chance the Crimson Reaper was involved but other articles from the facility incident told of their death. How could the crime be someone blamed on someone that’s supposedly dead? Or rather, how does someone come back from the dead? Unless of course the Crimson Reaper wasn’t human or faunus.

Pain shot through the blonde’s head as she thought that, flashes of silver eyes haunting her once more. She was getting sick of this. Every time she tried to remember something or was getting close to remembering, a headache or a burst of pain would stop her in her tracks.

After a few moments, the pain subsided, enabling Yang to think clearly again. Deciding that she’d done as much research as she could, the blonde clicked off the tabs and shut off the computer. She stood and looked over at the other teens and young adults in the room. She could go and socialise but something told her she wouldn’t be welcome in any of the groups.

Forgoing socialising, Yang strolled back to her room and tried to arrange her thoughts and the information she’d gotten that afternoon. It wasn’t going to be easy at all.

***

Back in her room a few hours later, Yang was still mulling everything over. Then she’d thought of an idea that would most definitely not work. 

She remembered the nurse saying something about her Dad doing some very important new job, the forest murders most likely being what it was. 

Yang needed answers and her dad or anyone else weren’t going to give them to her. The only way to get those answers would be to hunt down the Crimson Reaper herself, starting in the forest. She had no idea where to start and didn’t exactly have any weapons to protect herself with. Well, she had her fists and barely working aura. 

Plus, she had no idea how she’d get out of the rehab centre without anyone noticing or stopping her before she even got anywhere. Unless….

All Yang had to do was request a day out of the facility with either her Dad or a member of staff that she’d easily be able to ditch. Buuuut, there was the weapons problem. None of this was easy and she doubted she’d be allowed out of the rehab centre with the way she was at the moment. 

One thing Yang didn’t remember, was that her prosthetic arm was also a weapon. There was obviously a problem with that as well. She couldn’t exactly fight with what was technically one weapon. 

Still, she needed to find a way out. Unbeknownst to the blonde, there would be a way out soon enough. Not that it would be an easy solution to finding answers.

***

A week passed by and Yang was no closer to figuring out how to get out of the rehab centre. She spent most of her time now in the recreation room on the ancient computer, researching everything she could about the large forest just outside of Atlas and Mantle. 

She’d been trying to pinpoint the exact location of the murders but as it were, that knowledge was still being kept from the general public. The blonde had even gone so far as to ask her Dad about it in which he simply said he couldn’t divulge that information. 

The older blonde had become suspicious of her then, keeping a close eye on her or asking the nurses to do so whenever he was busy with the quadruple murder case. Which, sadly, was quite often. The nurses had agreed but mostly couldn’t keep to their word as they had other patients to keep an eye on, especially the most violent ones.

Yang was currently sitting on her bed fiddling with her prosthetic arm, trying to get into a small compartment that just wouldn’t budge. Each time she managed to get it open just a little, it would pop back into place, almost trapping her finger tips in the process.

A few more minutes later and she gave up, reattaching the metal limb and walking over to the barred window. It was exactly the same as every other time she peered through the window; snow and buildings. But as she stared into the white abyss and across the city, she noticed something off. 

Several airships of different sizes were flying towards the rehab centre, none of them turning to avoid the building. Looking down onto the street below, Yang stared in horror as many masked individuals hopped out of armoured trucks holding batons and guns. 

She ran to her door after a few more moments of staring at the mask individuals, glancing back up at the approaching airships every so often. Trying the door she found it to be locked and glanced at the clock on her nightstand.

It was passed curfew, meaning everyone was back in their rooms with the doors locked for the rest of the night.

Just as the blonde began to try and rip the door from its hinges, the entire building shook along with a deafening  _ boom _ .

Putting the pieces together rather quickly, Yang realised they’d set a bomb off either in the building or just outside it. 

Frantically, the blonde moved back from the door and ran at it a moment later, trying to break it down. Her efforts were fruitless, only rewarding her with a sore shoulder and arm. 

Moving backwards again, she readied herself once more and then slapped herself when she realised she could use her other side for more force. 

Gunshots and shouts rang out throughout the building as the masked attackers entered. They’d already made it to Yang’s floor, most likely coming in from the roof.

As the blonde was about to charge at the door again, clicks of the lock sounded out and the door swung open, revealing one of the masked attackers holding a baton. 

Yang didn’t waste any time and charged for them, barrelling into them with the force of a freight train. They slumped against the wall, completely unconscious and the mask slid from their face, showing patchy scaly skin. He was a faunus.

Why would faunus want to attack other faunus? That’s all there were in the rehab centre; faunus with anger issues, red eyes and extra strength. 

Well, apart from Yang. As far as she knew, she was still human.

Looking up and down the hall, she could hear screams and cries for help as gunshots echoed throughout the countless halls. Yang couldn’t bare to think of how many kids and staff were dying. 

No matter how much the blonde didn’t want to think about it, she knew this was the distraction she needed to get out of the rehab centre. She made a break for it down the hall in the opposite direction to the recreation room, hoping to the gods she was going the right way. 

Yang bolted past several masked lunatics that were either shooting at nurses or subduing patients and dragging them away. 

Finally she made it to what she hoped was the main hallway leading to the front reception where visitors usually arrived and signed in. 

The biggest problem now was the blockade of masked people in the way of the doors. A few had guns and two others had batons.

Those with the melee weapons stepped forwards whilst the ones with the guns trained them on the blonde. 

She froze momentarily but as soon as one of them reached out to touch her, the combat training she remembered kicked in. 

In a flurry, Yang grabbed the outstretched arm with her prosthetic, twisted it around and threw out her other fist into her first victim's face. 

It seemed the attacker’s had aura. Even then, it didn’t hold up against the blonde’s vicious punch.

Their aura flickered and died immediately, slumping to the floor.

The other decided then he wanted to stay conscious and backed away. So Yang thought. 

The masked lunatics with guns trained their weapons on her, opening fire a moment later.

The blonde  _ really _ didn’t want to get shot and quickly pulled her aura up as much as she could.

Each bullet that hit her felt like being punched by an oversized bear. Still, she stayed standing.

As the attackers fired their weapons they advanced forwards, getting close enough to finally hit the blonde with the butt of a weapon. 

She fell to the floor in heap and groaned as her aura flickered. Anymore hits she’d be a goner.

The masked maniacs surrounded her on all sides, aiming their guns at her once more and daring her to move. She didn’t and stayed still, letting the one with baton zip tie her hands behind her back. 

Yang prepared herself to be hauled up, only to hear grunts and shouts of pain from her attackers. She looked up and watched as a black ribbon sailed through the air and decapitated one of the gunmen. It flew back and came again, wrapping around the neck of another gunman and the end hitting another in the face. 

Yang couldn’t lie down and not help out her saviour. Easily breaking out of the zip tie, the blonde jumped up and head butted the baton wielder. He dropped like a sack of potatoes. 

By the time she’d dealt with the plastic cuffs and struck the baton wielder, the others had already been taken care of. 

She looked around for her saviour and found a girl around her own age with piercing amber eyes, hair as dark as the night sky and face so beautiful it struck the blonde dumb. 

What shocked her the most, however, were the pair of black cat ears atop the girls head. 

Her gaze flickered over the girl and Yang found a shocked expression on the raven-haired girl’s face. 

Before Yang could say or do anything, the girl fled back down the way she’d come. 

“Wait! I think I know you!” She shouted out, almost desperately.

The blonde tried to go after her but unfortunately, she seemed to vanish in thin air.

Sighing, she made her way back to the double doors leading out into the city. Thankfully, they were unlocked and all she had to do was pull them open, walk through the reception area and out of the front doors. 

It wasn’t going to be that easy as the blonde would soon find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wellll, I wonder what could be waiting in the reception area ehhhhh?
> 
> Anyways, that surprise I was talking about was actually two. I’m doing a double update. So it’s this chapter and chapter 5 since I missed posting this one last week. And it only seems fair to post chapter 5 as well.
> 
> My other surprise is that I’ve been writing a horror story in celebration of Halloween. It’ll be getting posted a little later on so it gives everyone a chance to read the two new chapters of this story.   
> Anywho, I’m rambling so I’ll leave you all to read the next chapter when I post it in the next ten minutes.   
> See you then and Happy Reading! :)


	5. Rogue For Good Reason

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby and Barrett are having fun in the forest. Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worst and Ruby goes berserk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again.  
> The reason I’ve done a crappy chapter summary is because I don’t wanna give away what’s gonna happen.   
> Anyways, I’ll leave you all to it. Enjoooooy!

Four months before Weiss awakens

How could someone get so bored that they’d resort to playing childish games with their pet Grimm? Well the answer was when a certain young Reaper had nothing else to do. Her father had gone out into the surrounding forests to scout out the area, just in case any Grimm found their way to the cabin. He’d given her the task of chopping firewood. She’d done that a little too quickly. He’d also given her the task of making their evening meal and now she was just waiting for the older Reaper to return so she could finish the food off. 

After gathering the ingredients, preparing them and mostly cooking the dish, she realised her father hadn’t set her any other tasks. The young faunus sat for a while, mulling over everything she’d been told a few months ago. It all made sense yet it didn’t at the same time. She tried to read a book leaning against Barrett but soon found herself distracted by his thick, black and surprisingly soft fur. Then she thought of having a nap with the large Grimm but couldn’t keep her thoughts from going back to her hospitalised partner. She eventually gave up and began to train only for Barrett to wander off into the woods.

The large bear Grimm had grunted at her until she got the message to follow. She did and to her surprise, her unlikely friend was in a playful mood but had the initiative not to do anything too close to the cabin, lest something get broken again like last time.

They first played tag, with Ruby  _ not _ using her semblance. She was still too quick for the large Grimm to catch. Eventually they resorted to playing hide and seek in the surrounding forest, going deeper and deeper until the cabin was no longer in sight and the trees became unrecognisable to the both of them. Ruby had decided to tie a piece of her tattered cloak to one of Barrett’s spikes so she could tell if it was him and not another Ursa Major. She didn’t exactly want to put herself in  _ that _ much danger.

They didn’t actually notice they’d gone too far into the snowy forest. Not until it was too late. It was a mistake they’d never be able to amend.

It was Ruby’s turn to hide from Barrett. She thought hiding behind some thick bushes would be a good place to hide from the friendly Grimm hunting her down. Oh how she was so wrong.

Said Grimm had snuck up behind her so silently, her lupine ears hadn’t picked up any of Barrett’s silent foot- er paw falls. 

The young Reaper definitely never expected her Grimm friend to grab a hold of her and lick her face. 

She squealed in surprise as she was easily picked up in the bear’s arms. She squealed even more as he continued to shower her in salivary affection.

“Barrett...stop. Barrett, I’m… I’m telling you. S..stop.” She said in between giggles.  
The surprisingly overly affectionate Grimm decided he needed a rest and just _flopped_ backwards with Ruby still in his gentle but strong grip. 

Ruby laughed at the Grimm’s antics and simply laid on top of him. What she didn’t expect was for Barrett to roll over and lay on top of her. God he was heavy but thankfully he didn’t put his whole weight down. The large Grimm seemed to think the strange girl’s wiggling about was amusing and stood, before flopping right back down again.

“Uuugh Barrett.” She groaned and whined at the same time. “Barrett...get...off...you big...baby.” 

The Grimm gave out a noise that sounded much like a snort, as if he was laughing at her. He huffed and grunted, talking to her in his own way. 

To the young Reaper’s shock and horror, the happy, chatty grunts turned into ones of great pain.

The bear Grimm abruptly stood and turned, Ruby following him up off the ground. Immediately, the young Reaper spotted what had hit her friend. An ice dust arrow.  “Barrett!” She shouted in concern, rushing to his side, seeing the arrow freeze a part of his fur. She ripped it out but it was no use. She looked up and found more arrows coming out of nowhere, these ones glowing red at the tips.

Fire dust infused arrowheads.

Ruby didn’t have much time to move, only milliseconds before the first ones  hit. She didn’t want to leave Barrett to be blown to pieces but she had no choice. She wouldn’t be able to move him even if she wanted to. 

Just as the young Reaper darted away, the impact of the fire dust arrows was instant and explosive. 

The large Grimm roared in pain as he was engulfed in flames. Ruby watched, mortified, as yet more dust arrows embedded themselves in her friend's dark fur. She couldn’t do anything but watch.

Her ears twitched at a sound coming from behind her. She couldn’t react in time to move away as arms encircled her waist and lifted her up.

“It’s okay, we can take this Grimm. Don’t you worry, we’ll get you to safety.” The person that had taken it upon themselves to ‘save’ Ruby said into her ear. They sounded young but not as young as herself. They were most likely recent graduates of Atlas Academy. Not that it mattered to her.

Immediately she began to wriggle and writhe, trying to escape the person’s grasp and save her only friend’s life. 

By now, two more people had come out from the trees, wanting to finish Barrett off whilst he was down. Ruby began to wriggle free of her captors grip, eventually resorting to lashing out with her elbow. It hit something solidly squishy, warmth splashing onto her back as her captors nose exploded into a bloody mess.

That made the person let go instantly, the young faunus taking the opportunity to activate her semblance and fly towards her Grimm friend. 

But it was too late. 

The Ursa Major she’d met and helped out, even though he’d essentially threatened her, had fallen. His body was already dissipating by the time she got to him. 

Surprisingly, he let out a pained whimper as the young Reaper skidded to her knees by his head. His crimson eyes were dulling and flickering as life was leaving him. 

Ruby teared up upon hearing the whimper. She could feel his fear of death emanating into her hands as she hefted his head onto her lap. 

“It’s okay. Shhh...it’s okay.” She whispered to the dying Grimm, tears falling freely down her cheeks. 

The only thing she could do to make it less painful was to absorb the remaining essence Barrett had left. It wouldn’t be much, but it would be enough to kill the huntsmen that did this to her friend.

With that passing thought, anger began to boil beneath the surface. With that anger, came the slow transformation of her body. She was still crying for her lost friend, the grief only fuelling the way her body was changing. 

The young Reaper rose to her feet, Barrett’s body already gone from the world but the essence of her friend flowed through her soul. 

The air around her began to move, the wind picking up as black, red tinted energy swallowed her left arm and leg. The dreaded mask of the Grimm grew upon her face, the eyehole making her crimson eye glow brightly with hate and rage.

The young huntsmen had stayed quiet, watching in horror as Ruby tried to comfort the Grimm and then transform into their worst nightmare. 

The two closest to her had no chance of surviving as she vanished from sight, leaving wilting rose petals in her wake, the beautiful red of them fading and browning.

She reappeared behind them with her eyes closed and her head down. As if in slow motion, the two huntsmen turned to face her.

The rogue Reaper’s claws dripped with blood, the huntsmen’s eyes widening momentarily before one of their heads slid off their shoulders in four varying pieces. 

The second one didn’t even have a chance to scream as blood stained claws embedded themselves in his chest. A look of terror flashed upon his face as he saw his own heart being ripped out in front of him. He collapsed as a bloodied mess of a corpse a second later. Seemed like they had forgotten to activate their aura to defend against her lethal attacks. Or Ruby was somehow able to pierce through defensive auras like they weren’t even there. 

The young Reaper sniffed the air once, catching the scent of a huntress in the trees. A black and red glow enveloped her body once more before the girl disappeared from sight again. 

Her two remaining victims, one still in the trees and one hiding behind a bush found reason they should leave the area. 

The young Reaper wouldn’t let them escape. 

The huntress in the trees hopped and swung from branches, trying to get away. It wouldn’t do her any good as the young Reaper soon caught up and slashed at the next branch the huntress grabbed a hold of. 

She fell from the broken branch but was lucky enough to have kept her aura up to lessen the risk of injury. It still wouldn’t save her no matter how much aura she had. 

The rogue Reaper soon thought of a way to disengage the huntress’ aura and immediately put it into action.

She flew back and forth using her semblance, knocking the huntress around like a rag doll until finally, causing small and large crimson slashes to appear wherever her claws connected. 

At the next burst of her semblance, she swung her Grimm arm out as she passed the huntress, slicing her in half. 

She didn’t watch the girl die but the spatter of warmth that splashed her ankles was enough to know the huntress was dead. The young Reaper then went on to find the huntsman that had kept her from saving her friend. 

The half-Grimm girl thought she’d lost him in the forest. Then she heard desperate whispers coming from above her. 

“Please help me! There’s...there’s a monster disguised as a girl ki...killing my friends. P...please help.”

It was only by chance that she stopped below the remaining huntsman and heard the plea for help. Or it’s the fact that the author can write the chapter however they want. 

Powered by her semblance, she flew high into the tree, coming back down a moment later with a screaming boy. She put Grimm energy into her semblance and flew down quickly, letting go of the boy a moment before they both hit the ground. Lucky for her, she landed heavily on a thick branch whilst the boy huntsman hit the ground with a sickening crack. 

Ruby looked down and saw the boy’s head twisted in an unnatural way, the rest of his body upright but leaning over. She smiled at the boy’s corpse before remembering the device the boy huntsman had before he died. 

Jumping down beside him, she soon found the aforementioned device and crushed it underfoot, making sure it was well and truly broken.

With her revenge taken care of the young Reaper walked back over to where Barrett‘s body had vanished.The ribbon of cloak she’d tied around a spike was the only thing left. Picking it up, she tied it around her ‘human’ wrist, with great difficulty of course. The she slowly made her way back to the cabin, sniffing the air so she could navigate her way back and trying not to cry as she did so.

* * *

It didn’t take long for her to find her way back to the ridiculously small cabin. She was just about to open the front door when she heard a thump behind her. 

She silently cursed her luck, knowing exactly who had arrived in the clearing. Undoubtedly, Qrow would ask her where she’d been and how she managed to become a half-Grimm again. 

Ruby continued on opening the door and walked inside, quickly making her way to the tiny bedroom she’d been sleeping in for the last few months.

Qrow followed, quickening his pace to try to catch her before she could slam the door shut. He failed as the young faunus used her semblance to make the quick trip even faster than necessary. She locked the door immediately upon entering and sat on her bed.

“Ruby, open the door.” Qrow said from beyond the door. 

“No. Go away,  _ Dad.”  _ She snapped, facing the window that overlooked the clearing and forest, as if it would actually block the older Reaper out.

“Ruby. What happened? Where’s Barrett? Open the door so we can talk about this.” Qrow’s voice came again, sounding concerned. Ruby wouldn’t fall for his fake worry and kindness. She stayed silent, a single watery tear finally escaping her one silver eye.

The grief of losing her friend, even if he was a Grimm finally caught up with her. The anger she’d felt up until now all but faded from her being, being replaced by utter despair. 

She began to sob quietly, letting the only eye she could cry out of leak salty droplets. 

She lay down on her uncomfortable bed,  curling into a ball as best she could whilst her body remained in its half-Grimm state.

Soon enough, she fell asleep, happy to embrace the cold, dark void of useless dreams.

* * *

When Ruby finally awoke, it was dark out and most likely snowing heavily. She wanted to fall back to sleep so she wouldn’t have to face the world and its murderous intent, but the growling of her stomach protested against that idea.

She groaned as she slowly sat up, taking in her dark room with bleary eyes. It was nothing like her old bedroom in Patch and it was much lonelier than her dorm room at Beacon. Still, she couldn’t complain about having somewhere to sleep, even if the bed was uncomfortable and springy.

The young faunus groggily stood, got changed out of her ripped clothing and made her way out of the dark room, sniffing the air and finding a pleasant scent before walking towards the ridiculously tiny bathroom. She first checked herself in the full length mirror, seeing if there were any remnants of Grimm on her body. 

Thankfully the Grimm traits had reverted back to normal in her sleep but the ever present red veins and crimson eye always remained, no matter what she did. She  _ hated _ the marks that marred her skin and she absolutely  _ loathed _ the red eye. It only ever reminded her of the monster she could become one day.

After relieving herself, the young Reaper made her way towards the living room, unceremoniously plopping down onto one of the small couches. 

As usual, Qrow was nowhere to be seen. It annoyed her but didn’t bring on the anger she’d usually feel. She was  _ way _ too tired to even think about her emotional state right now.

“Hey, squirt. You ready to talk about what happened earlier on?” The voice of her idiot father said, coming from the kitchen door.

She slowly glanced up to see him leaning casually against the doorframe, a caring but concerned look etched onto his features. She didn’t respond and looked back down at her lap, fiddling with her skirt nervously.

The young faunus knew what she did was wrong. It was just wrong, it was heinous and evil. She’d turned into a monster and  _ murdered _ four huntsmen all because she wanted swift revenge for the loss of her only friend. 

A part of her still agreed they’d deserved it but she pushed that away and let the guilt begin to swallow her.

“Rubes. Come on. Talk to me. I care about you too much for you to bottle it up.” Qrow said, moving away from the doorframe and onto the opposite couch.

“Wow, what a great father you are. Caring about his bastard daughter. Maybe you should be voted for the best father of the year award.” Ruby sneered, glaring down at her lap.

The older Reaper sighed deeply as he stood and moved back into the kitchen. He returned soon after with two bowls of food. The smell of beef and vegetable stew permeating the air of the living room even more than before.

He placed the bowl in front of Ruby and sat down on the opposite couch again, beginning to eat his own bowl of stew.

The younger girl looked at it like it was poisonous, not making a move to pick it up and start eating.

Her stomach growled again, much louder than in her bedroom and she blushed ever so slightly.

She took a chance to glance up at Qrow and saw him smiling ever so slightly.

She huffed as she finally gave in and picked up the bowl of steaming stew. 

The young faunus ate slowly, careful not to drip any of it on her, lest she have to change her clothes. Again.

Once they both finished, Qrow took the bowls and spoons into the kitchen and swiftly returned to sitting back on the small couch. 

He stared at his daughter but never said a word, hoping that she would break and tell him what was wrong.

Ruby made the mistake of looking up and saw the genuine care and concern in his eyes. 

She sighed for the umpteenth time and shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. It turned into a small staring contest, one of which Ruby would lose.

The older Reaper didn’t have to wait very long for his subdued daughter to break.

After a little while longer, Ruby looked away first, a sad expression plaguing her already marred face. 

“I...Barrett. He…He’s gone.” She said, stumbling over her words as she tried to stifle the sobs wanting to escape from her throat.

“Gone?” Qrow questioned, gently encouraging her to elaborate.

She didn’t respond, trying to gather her thoughts and keep the grief at bay. 

“He...He’s dead.” She finally muttered, a lump clogging up her throat.

“How? What happened?” Her father asked, just as gently as before.

“Huntsmen.” She muttered to the point where it was incoherent.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that.” 

The younger Reaper breathed deeply before responding. “Huntsmen ki..killed him…” she said again, mumbling slightly louder so Qrow could hear.

“Huntsmen?” Came the surprised but still gentle reply.

“Ye..yeah.” She took another breath before explaining. “We… we were messing ab...about in the forest. Four hun...huntsmen saw us and...and probably thought I was being attacked. They...they killed him and I...I…” 

Ruby was fully crying now, not bothering to hold back her grief, her despair and tears for her friend. She couldn’t even finish her sentence because of the overwhelming grief plaguing her soul. She didn’t want to say what she’d done and have her father be disappointed in her.

“Rubes, what happened? Did you do something to them?” Qrow softly inquired, a spark of horror behind his eyes. He knew exactly what she’d done to them. He knew what she was capable of if her friends were severely injured or even killed.

“Ruby. Please tell me…”

The younger Reaper simply sobbed harder, curling up into a ball on the small couch, obviously trying to make herself as small as possible so she wouldn’t have to face the truth or the consequences.

Unfortunately, the world didn’t work like that and the opening but gentle questions from her father made her realise that fact. To atone for her sins, she would need to confess everything. How she had lost her rational train of thought. How she hadn’t hesitated to become a half-Grimm. How she had wanted to become fully transformed so she wouldn’t have to remember the horrified faces of the people she’d killed. And how she had coldly murdered those four people for just trying to do their job. She  _ needed  _ to atone for her sins one way or another.

  
“I...I killed them, Dad. I ki...killed them and I can’t take it back. I want to take it ba...back but I can’t. They’re dead, be...because of me.” She said between loud sobs. 

As much as being called ‘Dad’ without the venom behind it warmed his heart, he had to push it away and face the crimes his own flesh and blood had committed.

The older Reaper stayed silent for a long while, just watching his crying child and listening to her mutter that she’d killed them and that she was sorry, over and over again.

Eventually, he’d had enough of the sobbing and muttering and moved over to the couch Ruby was on. She flinched away when he squeezed in next to her.

He tried placing a hand on her back, intending to rub soothing circles on it but she skittered away from his hand; falling off the end of the couch onto the floor.

“Do...don’t touch me. I’m a monster!” She cried, scrambling further backwards until she hit the wall next to the fireplace. 

“Ruby. I’m not gonna say what you did was right. It was wrong. Incredibly wrong. But you had a good reason to go rogue. I can’t…” he said, sighing before continuing. “I can’t completely condemn you for killing them because otherwise I’d be a hypocrite. I’ve killed before and I hated myself for it. I was too guilty to sleep most nights. Their faces just flashed into my memories and my dreams everyday. I was going mad from it all. I couldn’t live that life, not like my sister. I left her behind with the bandits and attended Beacon. That was the first two steps to atonement. So was becoming a huntsmen and helping those who couldn’t and still can’t defend themselves.” 

By now, the older Reaper had stood from the couch and sat next to Ruby, keeping a small gap between them to give her at least some space.

“Unfortunately for me, Raven followed me, liking the idea of having a huntresses license so she could get away with killing more innocent people. She changed her attitude after the first year and actually fell in love with Tai, whereas I ended up falling for your mother. I told her everything about my past and she accepted it, not batting an eyelash and stayed with me for over four years. That was my final way to atone for what I’d done so long ago. It’s ingrained into our souls to kill and we can’t help it. Our emotions affect us more than anyone else in this world and when we lose someone, it drives us to do things we regret later on. All Reapers kill innocent people at one point in their lives. It’s just the Grimm part of us that we can never escape from that leads us to taking innocent life.” 

Finally, he’d finished and his words did have some good effect on Ruby. She’d stopped crying for one and was peeking through the gaps of her arms, watching and listening to her father.

Eventually, the younger Reaper slowly shuffled up to him and leaned her head on his shoulder, surprising him at the sudden affection. His surprise soon turned to a small, caring smile.

The pair stayed like that for a while. Not moving and not making a sound.

“Ruby?” Qrow said, breaking the unusual comfortable silence.

“Shut up.” She muttered in response, trying to snuggle closer to her father.

“Okay.” He said, his smile widening a little as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. The older Reaper was going to say that they’d have to move from the area now after what’s happened but for now, he’d stay quiet and tell his daughter another time. Which would probably be soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that marks the end of chapter 5.   
> Now on with the horror story. Well, in a few hours of course.
> 
> Up next week is Chapter 6. I don’t have a name for the chapter yet xD  
> Anywho, thanks for reading and I’ll see everyone either on the horror story or next weeks chapter! Byeee for now!


	6. Berserk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mostly in Winter’s POV, she gets an unexpected visit by someone whilst sitting in her sister’s hospital room.  
> They argue and bicker but something takes their attention to the hallway, causing Winter and her expected but unexpected visitor to try and subdue someone going berserk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I can honestly say this chapter was actually ridiculously hard to write and get right. Luckily I’m on time with this chapter and should be able to write chapter 7 too.   
> And if you haven’t noticed, my chapter summary sucks dick. Couldn’t really think of anything without giving anything away. 
> 
> Anyways, please enjoy the new chapter and I hope to god it isn’t as bad as I think it is. Please let me know what you think of this chapter or the whole CRAU series on the whole in the comments! Please? XD
> 
> Anywho, I’ll leave you all to read the new chapter and I’ll see you at the end. Maybe.

Another two weeks had gone by in a flash with Weiss going through countless tests to see what was wrong with her and Winter uncharacteristically fretting over her sister’s mental and physical stage in between searching for Qrow or Ruby. 

So far the older Schnee had come up empty on finding either of the two, both of them seemingly vanishing in thin air. 

Ever since the first bout of explosive anger and strange veins, Weiss had another episode but still, Winter was concerned; almost constantly by her sister’s side. 

Currently, the younger Schnee was under-going yet more tests and scans whilst her sister waited in her hospital room going through reports on her scroll.

The latest was of a sighting of Weiss’ partner deep in the cold, snowy forests going towards the icy tundra. No other murders or attacks had been reported since the huntsmen massacre, definitely making crime out to be more than it originally seemed.

Winter huffed and sighed at the badly written report, not quite absorbing the information. She’d read the exact same sentence over five times and it was starting to aggravate her.

A tapping noise coming from somewhere didn’t help the Schnee’s concentration much either. 

_ Tap-Tap-Tap _

The white-haired woman simply tried her best to ignore the incessant noise and tried to go back to reading.

_ Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap _

The sound quickened in pace but still, she ignored it, going back to reading the same line for the seventh time. 

_ Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap _

“That does it!” Winter yelled in frustration, throwing her scroll onto Weiss’ bed and standing abruptly. She looked around the room and even popped her head into the adjoining hall and even now, the tapping continued. 

The Schnee walked to the middle of the room, closed her eyes and listened carefully for where it was coming from. 

_ Tap-Tap-Tap _

The back window. 

Finally figuring out where the persistent noise was coming from, Winter began to stride towards the aforementioned window, coming to a stop a few meters away from it when she saw something so incredibly strange.

What looked to be a  _ very _ small Nevermore was staring at her before tapping on the window again. It was so small, Winter doubted it could do much damage to anyone, including an auraless person. A Grimm was still a Grimm no matter how big it was, however. 

So the white-haired woman withdrew the small blade that came with her saber and script towards the window, keeping an eye on the tiny Nevermore. 

Standing in front of it, the tiny avian Grimm cawed at her, its beady red eyes seemingly looking right into her soul. 

It tapped on the glass once more, making the Schnee huff. “Shop! Get out of here!” She shouted. The tiny Grimm just ignored her and cawed again. 

It seemed the tiny Nevermore was adamant on coming into the hospital room. Like hell it was coming in!

With that, the military specialist flared her aura, trying to frighten the annoying bird Grimm away. Obviously it didn’t work and it just cawed at her once more.

“What is it with you? You have a death wish, I swear.” She said, mostly to herself.

As she was about to flare her aura again, she felt some sort of mixed presence coming from somewhere in the room.

_ Tap-Tap-Tap _

The noise brought the Schnee back to the small Nevermore and suddenly realised the presence she’d just felt was coming from the bird. 

Tilting her head slightly, she studied it carefully and felt something annoyingly familiar.

Grimm only ever had the presence of darkness that was heavy and chaotic but the bird Grimm felt entirely different. Like it was in between one of the dark creatures and something else. 

An aura. Grimm didn’t have auras.

Unless…

Carefully, Winter unlatched the window and swung it out before stepping back. The tiny Nevermore took that as its cue to hop into the room and take off towards the bathroom. 

The Schnee heard shuffling and the ruffle of feathers before a tall, dishevelled man with greying black hair and crimson eyes walked out a moment later. 

“Took your damn time, Ice Queen.” Qrow snarked as he put a hand through his hair.

“Qrow.” Winter greeted flatly, walking back over to the hospital bed and retrieving her scroll.

The surprise she felt at the Nevermore turning out to be the seasoned huntsmen wore off as soon as it had come and seeing the man standing cockily was already wearing down her already lowered patience.

“What are you doing here?” She questioned, tempted to use a snarky tone. “And couldn’t you have used the front door?” She added after realising the idiots actions.

“You tell me, Ice Queen. You’re the one that’s been searching for me.” He answered, ignoring the second question with a smirk. 

Winter huffed once more, becoming irritated by the ridiculous nickname from the sorry excuse for a huntsmen.

“Yes well, I’m beginning to think it was a mistake. And will you stop with the nickname, we are not children.” The white-haired woman responded haughtily.

“Ice Queen.” Qrow simply said, a mischievous look on his face.

Evidently, the greying Reaper was trying to get under her skin so she’d become frustrated and give him the rise he wanted. Plus she’d forget what he wanted from him so he’d be able to leave.

“Qrow, I know what you are trying to do and it won’t work. So stop being so immature. I’ve been looking for you for a reason but because of your ridiculous antics, I cannot remember why I’d need help from someone like you.” The Schnee said, trying to hide her annoyance from the smirking man.

“So, does that mean I came here for nothing? Find me when your old brain can remember what you wanted me for.” The Reaper said, walking over to the still open window.

“You are not leaving yet, Qrow!” Winter practically yelled, almost running towards him to stop him from climbing through the window.

“Why not? You can’t remember why you wanted me so I’m gonna go back to what I was doing before.” Came the snarky reply.

“Oh no you are not! You are staying here even if it takes me all night. You have been missing for  _ weeks _ and I have questions about that and the other thing I needed you for.” The white-haired woman argued, pulling the man’s arm as hard as she could to keep him from jumping out of the window.

“How about nah. I’m not staying in the same room as you for another minute if I can help it. I swear to the gods, you’re just as clingy as you used to be, Ice Queen.” Qrow replied in a taut tone. 

“How dar-“ Winter started to shout back, being interrupted by loud, shrill screaming and yelling coming from the hallway.

The two adults instincts kicked in and both turned to face the door. They shared a look before bolting for the door to go into the hall.

All they saw was a head of white hair on the ground with several security guards and doctors trying with all their might to restrain them. They thrashed and lashed out at the surrounding people, managing to catch a security guard on the chin with their small, pale white fist.

He stumbled back and let someone else take over. 

Qrow looked over the cowering nurses and a few patients, noticing a woman holding her nose, trying to stop crimson liquid from leaking out. Winter was already on the move to help the hospital staff to subdue her sister. The Reaper followed suit after another moment of looking over the few that the younger Schnee had lashed out at.

The security guards and doctors instantly moved aside when they noticed Winter approaching. 

Weiss stood impossibly fast and lunged for her older sister, grabbing her by the throat.

Concern and fear rolled around in Winter’s mind and heart from the sight of her sister going berserk. The red eyes and strange veins, the angry but determined look to kill her was unsettling and worthy of all of Winter’s worries. 

The grip on her throat tightened and they fell backwards with Weiss on top. Qrow jumped into action immediately and pried the younger Schnee’s fingers from around Winter’s throat before pulling her away completely. 

The older Schnee let a small grunt of pain as he did so, small scratch marks being left behind on her neck. 

“Sorry Win.” Qrow apologised even though he was struggling to keep Weiss from going for anyone else. 

She screamed and yelled incoherently as the Reaper just about managed to get her into a restraining lock. In lieu of lashing out with her hands, the younger Schnee began to kick her legs into Qrow’s shins and knees. He grunted in pain but still held firm.

Winter ignored the old nickname the irritating man used to call her, getting up from the sterile hospital floor and focusing on getting her sister to come back to her senses. It was easier said than done.

A well aimed kick behind from Weiss had the Reaper letting go and holding his groin area. The younger girl spun around quickly and latched onto his throat with her petite hands. She squeezed as hard as she could but Qrow couldn’t do anything as he was concentrating on the blood red eyes that stared ferociously into his own. 

Thankfully Winter had recovered quickly from being strangled by her own sister and wrapped her arms around Weiss’ waist and pulled her away. Qrow winced but the pain in his groin was still far worse. 

Weiss shrieked and lashed out more like an animal, aiming a barefooted kick at Qrow’s head. Fortunately it missed and Winter managed to pin the struggling Schnee to the right hand wall. 

“Weiss! Stop this at once! Weiss!” The older Schnee yelled desperately, trying to keep her sister against the wall. 

It wasn’t working as Weiss was slipping from her grasp and Winter was starting to tire from trying to hold her in place.

Weiss was somehow able to slip under her sister’s arms and instantly rounded on her. The older Schnee reacted quickly and moved out of the way of the next attack and decided it was best to fight fire with fire. 

She struck out at Weiss with her hand, slapping her across the face as hard as she could will herself. The young Schnee went sprawling across the hospital floor with her own momentum and Winter’s hit directing her there. 

Her older sister didn’t give her a chance to get up and recover from the daze the slap had put her in. She was flipped over and sat on, her arms being tightly restrained in cuffs Winter conveniently had on her person. 

The white-haired woman eyed the strange veins and saw how they were continuously climbing up her sister’s chest and neck. 

Qrow got to restraining the younger girl’s legs by holding them down whilst still in slight pain from being kicked in the balls.

“Weiss! Please snap out of it!” Winter pleaded with her dazed sister. 

“Wi...Winter?” The younger Schnee questioned, her angry red eyes slowly becoming confused blue. “Wha...what’s going on? And why are you sitting on me? You’re heavy.”

The older sister ignored the possible insult and looked at Weiss with concern etched onto her face. “Weiss?” She asked in uncertainty.

“Yeah?” Came the very puzzled reply.

“Oh thank the gods.” Winter sighed in relief and got up from sitting on her with Qrow following suit. The older woman hefted her sister up and helped her to stay standing as for some reason, her body felt so tired and achy. 

The cuffs were kept on just in case. 

“Winter? Why do I have cuffs on?” Came another confused question from the younger girl. 

She looked around and now only noticed the small crowd of shocked or scared people.

“What...what did I do Winter?” 

“I...I will explain in your room. Come on.” Winter replied, lightly pushing her towards her room. 

Once all three were back into Weiss’ room and the small crowd had dissipated, they sat in silence. Weiss continuously looked between the two adults, expecting some sort of explanation as to what had happened. They said nothing, Qrow obviously stuck in his thoughts. Winter meanwhile, sighed and looked out of the windows, not wanting to look her sister in the eye.

“Can someone please explain to me what happened and what I did instead of sitting in silence?” Weiss questioned, annoyance beginning to prick her tone.

“How can you not know what happened? You were right there doing it.” Qrow said, his voice clipped and sounded quite angry.

“Well I’m sorry I can’t remember! What. Happened?” The younger Schnee demanded more than asked.

“For one thing you kicked me in the balls!” Qrow practically yelled back, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Aw diddums.” Came the sarcastic reply. “It’s not like you need them anyway.” Her eyes flickered red, a dangerous look forming in them.

“Why you little-“

“Enough of this!” Winter shouted, standing abruptly and facing her sister with a glare that could probably kill several men. 

Weiss didn’t even bat an eye and just shrugged before sending her own glare at the Reaper who sent one right back.

“Weiss… do you really not remember what happened or what you did?” The older Schnee questioned, her tone a little softer.

“No. I don’t. All I remember is starting back from having more blood taken. I think I remember someone saying something to me but it’s blurry and after that it’s just...blank.” 

“One question I wanna ask is why the fuck did you have red eyes like a Reaper? And what was with those black veins crawling up your neck too?” Qrow piped up from his spot against the far wall. 

“That is what I wanted you for. We don’t know what’s going on or why it’s happening. We were hoping you had some answers or know what it could be.” Winter said, looking towards the Reaper with a questioning look in her eyes.

“Nope. I’ve never seen this before. Last I knew Reaper’s couldn’t transfer their abilities or whatever to humans because it kills ‘em. But, I’ve never seen or heard anything about red eyes and weird black veins.” Qrow explained, watching the younger Schnee in the corner of his eye.

“So you don’t know? Do you know anyone that might?” Winter inquired, raising an eyebrow.

Qrow took a moment to think but it wasn’t exactly hard. “Yeah, I know someone. But he’s in Vale and currently running an Academy. You could always try your mansions library. Pretty sure it’d have something in there about it.” 

“Hmm you’re right. I’ll get to it once we’re finished here. In the meantime, I also want to know where Ruby is. Last I heard she was with you.” The older Schnee said, glancing back at her sister to see her reaction. 

Qrow sighed at the mention of his daughter and pulled his hand through his hair before rubbing his face. “She’s gone missing. I have no idea where she’s gone. I’ve been looking for her for the past few months. I have no idea how she could just vanish.” He eventually said, looking Weiss right in the eye.

“What? Why? Why would she disappear? She visited me on the day I woke up. She said she’d been back someday.” Weiss said, beginning to ramble just like her partner.

“I think your sister knows one reason why.” 

“Let me guess. It has something to do with the brutal murders of four newly graduated huntsmen?” Winter asked, knowing it was exactly that.

“She didn’t brutally murder them. They killed her friend and she was just defending herself.” Qrow replied, defending Ruby’s actions.

“Her friend? Defending herself? They stood no chance against her. Did you not see the way they were killed? It even turned the stomachs of the veteran huntsmen and huntresses.” The white-haired woman replied, obviously not believing any of what Qrow said.

“Yeah, her friend! They killed him and she retaliated. They killed the wrong Ursa and paid for it with their own lives. It serves them right for not understanding he wasn’t going to hurt her!” The Reaper yelled, glaring at Winter.

“How can you say that!? They became huntsmen to protect the people  _ from  _ Grimm. Not understand why some Grimm might be nice! There are no nice Grimm! How can you say they deserved to die for killing a killing a fucking Grimm!” The older Schnee had certainly lost it. Her temper and patience had finally hit its point and she exploded, stalking towards the Reaper and grabbing his shirt as she yelled at him.

“We think differently about who deserves death and who doesn’t! We’re completely different beings to what you are! If it wasn’t for us Reapers you wouldn't even have a fucking aura, let alone a semblance!” Qrow shouted back, slapping her hand away and squaring up to her until he realised what he’d just said. He’d let something slip that no one should know. Only those that have been trusted with the information should know it and no one else and he’d just let it slip out through his anger.

He backtracked and got back on topic before either sister could question what he’d meant. 

“Look, Ruby’s friend was a Reaper turned Grimm. He was far too intelligent and responsive to positive  _ and  _ negative emotions to be a normal Grimm. He and Ruby had a very close connection and he was killed by those huntsmen because they didn’t think to check and ask before attacking. I stand by what I said about them deserving it.” He added and stepped towards the window he’d come through earlier on.

Winter simply crossed her arms over chest and flared daggers at him as he opened the window and hopped on the ledge. He didn’t even turn back when he said one last thing. “For the record, most common Grimm nowadays are misunderstood.”

And with that, he was gone, a small Nevermore soaring up into the sky a moment after Qrow had gone.

Silence ensued for a little while with Winter standing in the same place and Weiss was struggling to keep her eyes open. She still hadn’t found out what had happened. Maybe she could ask again tomorrow or even the next day. 

She heard her older sister sigh and turn on her heel. “I’m going to get started looking through Schnee Manor library. Rest and don’t do anything stupid.” She heard her sister say and footsteps moved towards the room’s door. 

Before Winter could open it and step out, her scroll buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw a new message from General Ironwood. Sighing once more, she opened the message and read it quickly. It seemed the research in Schnee Manor library would have to wait. She had to get back to the military base as soon as possible.

Turning to look at her sister, she found her asleep sitting up and promptly moved back over to her and carefully lay her down before pressing a kiss to the top of Weiss’ head. Straightening up and heading for the door again, she didn’t spare a glance back and just exited, closing the door quietly. 

She needed to see what Ironwood wanted before she could do anything else and gods forbid if it was a new mission. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, maybe I didn’t need to put so much drama into this chapter but I swear it’s necessary. Well, maybe the Qrow and Winter drama isn’t but the Weiss going berserk drama definitely is.  
> If you all want, let me hear your ideas on what you think is going on with Weiss. And where could Ruby be? Ooooooo~  
> Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Yuki Rose signing off for today. (My brain is currently mush).  
> Byyeeeee


	7. Opportunity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake gets an opportunity she can’t refuse. Plus she sees someone she hasn’t seen for a few weeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeey guyssss. I am so sorry that this is late. For those who have tumblr you’ll all know that ie announced I’m going to be posting on sundays instead of Saturdays.   
> Everyone else now knows since I’ve just said xD  
> Anyways, the reason behind this is because of RWBY V8 episodes coming out on Saturdays (for me) and because I have soooooo much fucking college coursework it’s hard to keep up with atm.
> 
> Also, if push comes to shove, updates may end up going from weekly to fortnightly so I can concentrate on college AND the story.   
> Anyways, I’ll let you get reading. See you at the eeeend.

Another week had gone by, surprisingly much faster than the first two in the military base prison. Blake had Winter to thank for that, the older woman giving her better books to read along with far better exercise equipment and even pencils and paper to whatever she wanted with.

The cat faunus was currently in an interrogation room waiting for Winter to turn up, most likely to ask more questions to build a proper case. Well, that’s what she thought was going to happen. 

Ten minutes went by when the door unlocked and in came Winter accompanied by a tall, dark-haired man. Blake immediately recognised him as the General of the Atlesian Military as well as the headmaster of the adjoining Academy.   
The raven-haired girl wasn’t quite sure why he was here but the sudden thoughts of him declaring she be imprisoned for the rest of her life has her stomach churning and her heart clenching.  
Her worries for her future were completely unnecessary as Ironwood finally took a seat and spoke.  
“You are probably wondering why I am here along with Specialist Schnee. To answer that, I may as well tell you without beating around the bush.” He said, pausing and rifling through papers he’d brought with him. “Now, I am well aware of your background with the White Fang and what happened in Beacon and the facility. But, I am prepared to overlook your roles in those particular organisations and give you a chance to carry on your training as a huntress in Atlas Academy as well as doing specialised missions for me.” He explained, sliding several pages of paper across the table in front of the faunus. 

Blake was wide eyed and struck dumb. She had no clue what to say or think other than the fact she believed she didn’t deserve the chance to carry on her training, not after everything she did. Definitely not after turning a blind eye to Ruby’s suffering in the facility. Although, she’d had no choice but to do so, lest she give away too much about herself to the younger faunus. That would’ve been disastrous and undoubtedly, Adam or even Jacques would’ve killed either Ruby or herself. Most likely herself since she’d always been expendable in the facility. Especially to Jacques Schnee because she was just a normal faunus. 

She was broken out of her self-deprecating thoughts by the General speaking once more.  
“If you accept this opportunity, we already have a mission we would like you to participate in.”

Finally, Blake arranged her thoughts properly and spoke. “Why give me this chance when I don’t deserve it?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“We believe you do deserve another chance because of everything you have been through. We know you didn’t have a choice when it came to betraying everyone. You were forced to do so, meaning none of what happened was innately your fault.” Ironwood replied almost instantly, seemingly knowing the faunus was going to ask such a thing.

“So, why put me out on a mission straight away? Why not assess my skills first so you know if I’m suitable or not?” Blake questioned, still having doubts.

“It’s simple, Miss Belladonna. We already know of your skill set and believe you are competent enough to be put straight onto a mission.” Winter butted in, stepping forwards slightly.

At the confused look on Blake’s face, Ironwood explained further. “We have video footage from when you attended Beacon as well as in the training room of the facility. That is how we know of your skills Miss Belladonna.”

“I see…” came the faunus’ response. She didn’t actually need to think about accepting the General’s offer. It was an easy choice since she’d be able to atone for her sins. She didn’t hesitate to give General Ironwood her answer to his offer, completely certain she could actually help people instead of betraying them.  
“I accept your offer. I have nothing to lose but so much more to gain. What’s this mission you want me on?”

The look of determination in the cat faunus’ eyes made the General smile ever so slightly, even Winter let her lips curl upwards. 

“First, you’ll need to sign a few papers before I can give any details.” Ironwood said, producing a pen from nowhere and pointing to the papers in front of Blake.

With that, the raven-haired girl got to reading and signing the important documents, making sure to go through everything just in case there was something hidden within them.   
She found nothing inconspicuous and only noted one thing that would come in handy. She’d be allowed to take any time off she wanted without any questions being asked. That is as long as she makes enough progress in any missions.

Finally finished, Ironwood slipped yet more papers across the table but this time, they weren’t to sign but to read through. 

“Those are your mission briefing as well as your dorm room number and code, locker number and code and a map of the Academy. For now, get to the cafeteria and get something proper to eat. Once you’re finished there, Specialist Schnee will escort you to my private airship pad where you will travel back to Atlas with her. I am confident you will go through the mission briefing as you travel. Do not lose any of it or it’s my head that goes onto the chopping block. Understood?”  
General Ironwood expounded, taking his pen and important documents back and standing up to leave.

“Understood.” Blake simply replied as she stood as well, gathering the various papers she’d need.  
Before the General could leave however, she stopped him, calling out to him. “General Ironwood?”

“Yes, Miss Belladonna?” Came his reply as he turned back to the cat faunus.

“Thank you.” She said with all of the sincerity of the world in just those two words.

“You’re welcome.” 

With that, the man left, leaving Blake and Winter alone in the room. Soon enough, they also exited and made their way to the base’s cafeteria.   
It was large and full of soldiers; chatting, queueing or eating their food. 

A few looked over, instantly spotting Blake and nudging the troops next to them. Eventually, the whole room were staring at the cat faunus with most of them glaring at her.   
She didn’t shrink back and cower like most faunus would have done, instead she stood tall, puffing out her chest with a look of determination and a scowl on her face. She looked at each and every soldier in turn, some looking away and other glaring harder.

That is until Winter stepped forwards and threw out the iciest glares she could muster. The type that could kill. Only if.  
Every single soldier looked away and got back to what they were doing before, knowing that if they caused trouble with the cat faunus, they would receive far worse from the Specialist.

***  
An hour later and Blake was sitting on an airship along with Winter on their way back to Atlas.. The raven-haired girl was already going through the mission briefing, reading every little detail to make sure she understood it. Whenever she didn’t, she turned to Winter and asked her questions about it. 

Her mission was simple enough. Search for Grimm getting too close to the giant walls of Mantle and exterminate them.   
Several Sabres had been spotted by scouts a few days ago but not only them, a small flock of tiny Nevermore had been spotted flying too close to the city below, slowly gaining altitude to get to Atlas above.

That wasn’t going to happen, not when Blake had anything to do with it.   
She was to complete the extermination as quickly as possible before any of the Grimm could enter Mantle and wreak havoc. 

Finally finished with her third read through of the briefing, she placed the papers next to her and looked out of the window whilst rubbing her temples.  
She did a double take when she noticed they weren’t going towards the Academy. They weren’t too far from a tall, well lit skyscraper and looking down, the cat faunus noticed several ambulance vehicles parked outside.  
Why were they going to a hospital?

Winter realised she hadn’t explained anything and decided now was the best time to do so. “If you’re wondering why we are here, it’s because a friend of yours is here. I’m certain you would want to see my sister. Or am I wrong?”

Blake looked to the older woman, a surprised expression on her face. Weiss was in this hospital? Would her old friend want to even see her? Would she forgive the cat faunus’ betrayal and understand she had no choice? Or would the former heiress not want to have anything to do with her? Would she cast Blake aside? 

“I know what you’re thinking. You don’t have to worry about Weiss not wanting anything to Dow it’s you. I’m sure she would want one of her friends back and understand nothing of what happened was actually your fault.” Winter piped up, causing Blake to startle.

The cat faunus simply nodded and got to calming her heart. It wasn’t very easy to do so, especially because of everything that had happened to not just herself but to Weiss as well.   
If it weren’t for Blake betraying her friends, Weiss would’ve never gotten hurt in the first place.

Soon enough, the two women arrived at the top of the hospital, departing their seats and walking into the hospital and taking the elevator down to Weiss’ floor.  
The walk to the former heiress’ room was awkward and neither woman wanted to talk or make any sound at all.

Thankfully the walk was short, Winter stopping and opening the door to a room with a plaque outside reading ‘Schnee’.  
Blake followed her in and gasped loudly, a hand shooting up to cover her mouth whilst tears began to form in her eyes, threatening to fall down her cheeks.

The white-haired woman stood off to the side and let Blake look over her friend, keeping an eye on the faunus for whatever reason.

The raven-haired girl hesitantly made her way to Weiss’ bedside, her amber eyes taking in everything about the white-haired girl.  
Bandages poked out from beneath the girl’s hospital gown whilst tubes travelled from her body and into machines.   
Her breathing was so shallow it was astounding that she was even alive, especially after what Ruby did to her.   
Blake stared at Weiss’ deathly pale face, trying to memorise everything in case she didn’t pull through. Of course, the cat faunus knew the white-haired girl wouldn’t leave them all behind. She knew Weiss would pull through no matter how it was and no matter how long it took her to find her way back to the conscious world.

“Don’t worry, she’s out of danger. She’s been through three different surgeries to ensure she’ll live. And besides, the best doctors in Remnant work in this hospital.” Winter said in a reassuring voice, walking closer to her sister’s side and next to Blake.

“Good. I’m glad she’ll be alright. Do you know when she’ll wake up?” The cat faunus asked, finally calming down from the initial shock.

“I’m happy you said ‘when’ and not ‘if’.” Winter said in a slightly joking tone. “The doctors have no idea. Her condition may be stable but there’s no telling when she’ll actually wake up. Hopefully, it’ll be soon.” She added, her slight reassuring smile falling a little.

Blake didn’t respond and just watched her former teammate breath, deciding to sit down after ten minutes. She carefully grabbed her friends hand and stayed by her side along with Winter for hours, none of the two wanting to speak or make a sound.

Blake knew she had to get some rest ready for the next day but she wanted to be there for her friend, even if she wasn’t conscious. Even then, the cat faunus would fight for Weiss. For Ruby. And for Yang. She would fight for their sake’s, not her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whale then. This was actually a pain in the arse to write. But it’s now done. Thank god.   
> I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I personally think I didn’t write it very well. 
> 
> On another note, I’ll see you all either, on Sunday or Sunday after with Chapter 8 (again, I don’t have name for the chapter yet).  
> Byyyyyeeeeand happy reading~


	8. The General

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang finds herself in the middle of Atlas, confronted by two soldiers. She’s taken to Atlas Academy where the General of the Military awaits to tell her of something that could help to regain her memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. I’m so sorry that this is late. I couldn’t get anything written. At all.  
> Thankfully though, I’ve managed to write it and get it posted today.  
> Uuugh my head hurts.  
> Anywho, I don’t have much to say so I’ll leave you all to it.
> 
> Edit: I have rewritten the third part of this chapter. It was doing my head in and it was cringey as fuck.

Continuation of chapter 4

‘It wasn’t going to be that easy as the blonde would soon find out’.

Yang peered through the small window of the door leading into the reception area, counting the masked people walking around.  
There didn’t seem to be many of them so maybe she could risk it by running through them; then again, there could be more outside.

Still, Yang slowly and carefully opened one of the doors and slipped through crouching low and getting ready to sprint across the room.  
She waited, watching the masked individuals go about their business until she was sure no one was watching or looking her way. 

She burst from her spot and sprinted at full speed towards the glass doors at the other end. Hoping against everything that she could make it without being noticed. Alas, that wasn’t going to be the case.

Just as the blonde managed to get about half way, someone or rather, several someone’s spotted her.  
“Hey! Stop!” Someone shouted.  
She ignored them and carried on. She was so close but she was already tiring. That wasn’t good.

“Don’t just stand there, stop her!” The same person shouted.  
She heard several guns being cocked and then firing towards her. She hoped to the Gods she didn’t get hit by one of the shots, especially after seeing what they could do to someone. And because she still couldn’t remember how to activate her aura at will. 

The blonde was now just a few steps from the exit when a plasma shot hit her in the back of the leg. Thankfully, it seemed her aura had activated itself, the plasma shot only causing her to stumble with a new sensation of pain in her right calf. 

Stumbling didn’t stop her completely, it only managed to slow her down enough for her to stop her momentum and open the glass doors into the outside.  
As she stepped out, her heart dropped as even more masked people milled about, spotting her a moment later. Again, she took off in a sprint, her legs burning and the new injury making her almost trip over her own feet.  
The blonde heard someone shout something but she ignored them and carried on until her lungs felt like they were going to explode.

Stopping in an alleyway a few blocks away from the rehab centre, Yang leaned up against a wall and tried to catch her breath as fast as she could so she could keep going. It wasn’t that easy but at least it seemed the mask maniacs didn’t go after her. 

Ten minutes past by the time Yang finally caught her breath, the pain in her right calf going to a dull ache.  
She pushed off the wall and walked out of the alleyway into the busy street, gaining glares and stares from the snobby people around her.  
Yang could’ve sworn she heard a few people saying nasty things about her. She ignored them and began to think of a way to get a hold of a weapon and then make her way to the forests.

She soon realised there wasn’t actually a way to get a weapon or even to the snowy forests of Solitas on her own. There was, however, a way to get a weapon and to the forest with the help of her Dad. That’s if he’d give her some answers.  
So with that, she began her long walk towards the towering skyscrapers in the middle of Atlas City. 

***

Several hours past when Yang finally made it to the very first skyscrapers going into the centre of Atlas. It had taken her much longer than it should have, her calf still twinging every time she took a step. She was incredibly lucky that her aura had activated on its own, otherwise she’d probably be left with no leg from the plasma shot and she wouldn’t have escaped.

Thankfully that didn’t happen and all she had to deal with now was the cold (not that she could feel much of it) and the snooty bastards walking the streets giving her dirty looks.  
To be fair, she didn’t exactly look like she was even from Atlas in the attire she had on. It’s not like she’d had time to get changed and shit when the masked maniacs attacked the rehab centre.

The blonde simply ignored everyone around her and concentrated on getting to the very centre where Atlas Academy stood in all its grandeur.  
Putting one foot in front of the other at a slow pace, Yang shivered; not from the cold but from the feeling of being watched. 

She stopped and looked around intently, trying to spot anyone or anything watching her. She looked up and down the busy street and up at the skyscrapers around her but found nothing.  
A caw of a bird flying above her gained her attention and looking as closely as she could, she saw it wasn’t actually a normal bird. It was the tiniest Grimm she’d ever seen. Not that she could remember seeing many Grimm in the first place.

Still, the blonde watched it circling her, cawing every so often. The clearing of a throat interrupted her, causing her to look down to where two Atlas soldiers stood in front of her.  
She immediately straightened up and raised her nose high in the air like the people around her.  
She also adopted a comical ‘I’m rich and think I can’t get away with everything’ air about her, including an incredibly bad ‘rich persons’ accent.

“What can I do for you gentlemen?” She inquired, looking between the two.

The soldiers eyed the blonde suspiciously before the one on the left finally spoke, answering her question.  
“We received a few reports from a couple of concerned citizens about a suspicious looking blonde with red eyes. Guess we found you.” 

Yang didn’t miss the fact that both soldiers held onto their guns warily, obviously getting ready to aim and fire at a moment's notice if she did anything they didn’t like.

“They seem to believe you are disrupting the peace here by shouting, screaming and just causing general havoc.” The one on the right said next, standing so stiff Yang wondered if their back was made of stone.

Yang huffed, actually annoyed at the false accusations. “Do I look like I’m causing havoc? Do I look like I’m shouting and screaming?” She said, trying not to sound pissed off. 

“Well, no actually. You just seemed out of it.” The left one said, looking up at where the bird Grimm was moments ago.  
The right one tapped their companions arm, gaining their attention and began to whisper in their ear. Unfortunately, Yang couldn’t hear a thing they were talking about. 

They turned back to her, the right one speaking this time. It was quite unnerving that they kept doing that; talking in turns.  
“Tell me, where do you come from?”

The blonde took a moment to reply, debating with herself on whether or not if she should tell the truth or lie.  
“I’m from Patch originally but I came here and got into an accident a few months ago. I was recovering in the hospital and was discharged today. My father was supposed to pick me up but he’s in a meeting with General Ironwood.” She answered, mostly lying but still telling the truth. Somewhat.

“I see…” the left one replied, trailing off and whispering to his partner again.

A few minutes past and in that time, the blonde could’ve just walked away but she really didn’t want to get into trouble. 

“You don’t mind if we contact the General just to confirm do you? What’s your fathers name?” The right one questioned, raising a hand to their helmet.

“Sure. Go ahead. And his name is Taiyang Xiao-Long. He’s working on a case with the General.” Yang replied easily, now getting tired of the confrontation. 

The soldier stepped away and began to speak into their earpiece attached to their helmet whilst the other soldier kept an eye on the blonde.  
The other troop returned after a few minutes.  
“General Ironwood has requested your presence. Your father is there too as you said he would be. We’ve been instructed to escort you to the Academy as soon as possible.” They said, starting to turn away.

“Oh, cool I guess.” She responded and began to follow whilst the other soldier followed behind her. 

***

Getting the Atlas Academy was a pain in the arse considering the blonde had an escort. First they had to get an airship to the Academy’s airport and then they needed to check in and register the blonde. That took the better part of an hour.  
Now they were just walking the long halls of the huntsmen school towards an elevator. 

No one spoke throughout the trek, the atmosphere between the three too tense and awkward for anyone to say anything. At least, to Yang it was tense and awkward. Especially riding in the elevator up to the General’s office.

Ever since the blonde had lost her memories and just began to regain them, she’d often felt like she wanted to be alone, not wanting to meet new people or talk very much. Her temper had apparently worsened and she’d become a quieter person, even forgoing socialising with her own Dad.  
People now made her nervous and it seemed General Ironwood was no exception to that. For all she knew, he was just another new person she had to meet and talk to. 

With the coming conversation with a new person, Yang’s nerves skyrocketed, sweat sticking to her forehead, back and anywhere it could.  
The blonde knew she’d never been this way before being injured and losing her memory. Her dad told her she used to love meeting new people and talking to them but now, she couldn’t even face new people that well.

She’d only been able to talk to the soldiers in the elevator with her because, well she didn’t actually know why.  
The elevator let out a soft ding, making the blonde jump out of her skin and bringing her out of her thoughts abruptly.

At the end of the hall was a pair of ornate double doors with a blonde man standing outside of them, obviously waiting for Yang.  
She exited the ridiculously large elevator swiftly, running down the hall and barging straight into her father, nearly bowling him over. 

“Dad!” She simply said as she hugged him tightly.

As shocked as Tai was by his daughter’s way of greeting him, he still wrapped his own arms around her and squeezed.  
“Yang. Are you okay? I heard what happened at the rehab centre.” He said, his voice full of concern.

“Yeah. I’m fine. I managed to get out but so many others didn’t.” She replied, tears slipping down her face.

“Shhh. It's alright. Don’t cry.” Tai said after noticing a new wet patch growing on his chest. “A few managed to survive and escape like you did and were picked up by Atlas troops near the rehab centre.” He added to try and reassure the younger blonde.

“That...that’s good.” Yang sobbed.

Ten minutes went by when Yang finally stopped crying, holding onto her father as tightly as she could. She let go of him and straightened up, wiping her eyes and cheeks of tears.  
Tai knocked loudly on the double doors when he was sure Yang was ready.  
An immediate ‘Enter’ followed and the older blonde opened the doors.

“This is where I leave you for now. I still have work to do. I’ll see you later.” Tai said, quickly hugging her and walking down the hall and into another room.

The younger blonde’s eyes glanced around the large office before settling on a man dressed in a smart uniform.  
He stood from his chair and walked from behind the desk, stretching out his hand to shake her.  
Yang hesitated for a moment before taking the General’s right hand with her own prosthetic one.  
A low clunk sounded out as both of their hands connected.  
One of the younger blonde’s eyebrows travelled above her hairline at the noise, the General simply smiled.

“It’s a pleasure to officially meet you, Miss Xiao-Long. Your father’s told me a lot about you.” Ironwood greeted, surprising the younger girl.

‘Okay, maybe I shouldn’t judge people I’ve never met.’ Yang thought, smiling slightly in spite of her nerves.  
“Er yeah, it’s nice to meet you too.” She greeted back awkwardly.

“Indeed. The last time I saw you, you were unconscious. It’s good to see how well you’ve recovered.” Ironwood added, letting go of Yang’s hand and stepping back.

“Yeah, um, thanks. I guess.” Came another awkward response.

The General cleared his throat, sensing the atmosphere turning tense and uncomfortable. 

“I’ll cut to the chase for you on what I have to offer. Simply put, I have someone for you to meet as well as an opportunity to regain the memories you’ve lost.” General Ironwood explained, walking over to a singular door on the left side of his office.

He opened it before Yang could question what he meant and who she was supposed to meet. She wasn’t looking his way when did, she was glancing at her father with worry in her eyes but she didn’t miss the gasp from the other side of the room.

Her attention gained, the younger blonde looked back to the door and was greeted with a lovely but surprising sight.  
Stood in the doorway was a girl with long, raven locks, adorable cat ears and the most beautiful eyes Yang had ever laid eyes on.  
Of course, she recognised the girl from the rehab centre, the one that had run away after saving her arse.

“It’s you. You’re the one that saved my butt and then bolted. I thought I recognised you from somewhere but you didn’t give me a chance to ask. Do I know you?” Yang said, wanting answers from the black-haired girl and staring with sad eyes at her.

“I...Yes, you do know me. At least, you used to.” The other girl responded quietly, not wanting to comment on anything else the blonde had said.  
She turned to the General, staring daggers at him and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me she was going to be here? Or at least tell me she can’t remember who I am?” 

“We thought it would enable you both to reconnect as you did back in Beacon and maybe, bring on some memories in Miss Xiao-Long. But there is another reason she’s here other than that.” Came a smooth, authoritative voice from behind the raven-haired girl, stepping past her and through the doorway.

“I wondered when I’d see you again, Schnee.” The blonde said, trying to keep the sneer out of her voice.

“Indeed. It’s good to see you again, Miss Xiao Long. I hope you have been keeping well.” Winter replied, ignoring the sneer she heard in the younger girl’s voice, even if it was minute.

“Yeah… I’ve been better. Ups and downs like everyone else.” The blonde sighed, shuffling her feet awkwardly.  
Her gaze flickered back to the raven-haired girl, her cheeks tinting pink ever so slightly.  
“So...er… what else was it you wanted to talk to me about?”  
She inquired, turning back to the General.

“Well, the military’s science division think they’ve found a way for you to regain your memories faster than you have been. Although, I have heard your progress is better than it was.” Ironwood explained, walking back over to his desk and picking up a few papers.

“How can they do that?” the cat faunus asked before Yang could.

“From all of the research material we were able to gather from Mr Schnee’s facility, the science division here have been able to modify a dust the same Mr Schnne’s scientists did. Instead of taking away memories, it will bring them back. Unfortunately, it’s not perfect and might take a few doses.” Came the next explanation from the General.

“I see. Is there a chance for me to do any training or whatever between doses? If I agreed to have this modified dust, that is.” The blonde said after a moment of thought. 

“We can arrange for you to have appropriate training between doses, yes. You will also be given a dorm room in the Academy along with a roommate. And when the time is right, you will be given missions to go on with your roommate.” Winter said, taking over from Ironwood as he gathered a few more papers.

“Does that mean I’ll be a student of Atlas Academy? How long do you think it’ll take me to recover and stuff? Do I get to choose my roommate? And will you ever allow me to leave?” The blonde questioned quickly, glancing at the cat faunus and back to Winter.

“In a way, yes. The time of your recovery depends on you and how well you respond to the modified dust. Yes, you do get to choose your roommate and it will depend on how much you can recover in a short amount of time.” The Schnee listed off, obviously already knowing the questions Yang was liable to ask.

“Okay, cool. Well I choose her.” Yang replied, not so sutley pointing at the cat faunus, both of their faces growing a little pink.

“Alright. Miss Belladonna, could you please escort Miss Xiao Long to your dorm room, find her something to wear that doesn’t look like she’s from a mental institution and then take her to the cafeteria for something to eat.” The white-haired woman said, nodding once and turning to leave.

“Miss Xiao Long, please sign these tonight. We will start your treatment tomorrow afternoon if that’s alright?” The General said, passing the blonde the papers. 

“Sure. If it’s the fastest way to remember everything, then I’ll be happy to try it all out as soon as possible.” She replied, taking the papers.

With that, the cat faunus led the way out of the office and down the hall, getting into the elevator and going down a few floors. They walked in awkward silence, sneaking glances at each other.

Eventually, Yang did ask the question she’d been wanting to since she first saw her.  
“So, um, what’s your name? Your first name, I mean.”

“It’s Blake.” Came the simple reply. 

“I’m Yang. But I guess you already knew that.” Yang laughed, nervously.

Silence ensued once again and soon enough they entered what would be there room for however long they were going to be staying in Atlas Academy.

The rest of day was spent in silence, awkwardness following them around like a little lost puppy. As much as the blonde wanted to strike up a conversation, she actually liked the quiet between them, just not the awkwardness that surrounded her aura.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can say, this chapter killed me but I absolutely love the drama in this. Might be a bit far fetched but whats good about a story if there isn’t any far fetched drama? XD  
> Anyways, that’s this chapter over and done with. Chapter 9: Never Truly Alone is next.  
> See you all then! :D


	9. Never Truly Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby hasn’t been back to Atlas since Weiss woke up from her coma. Now, she travels North East of Solitas.   
> A couple of days away from her destination, she comes across something small and cute.   
> She’s a little happier after meeting the little thing, but ultimately ends up becoming a mess.  
> What do you think happens when you show negative emotions in a forest full of Grimm?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeey guuuuys! I am so so so so sorry about not updating sooner. This chapter was an absolute pain in the arse to write. I just couldn’t figure out what to do with Ruby. Thankfully my best friend Pookie helped me out. So, thanks duuude!
> 
> Anyways, without further ado, chapter 9!  
> Enjooooy!

The Port of Arden. A medium sized settlement in the North East of Solitas and a few months of non-stop walking. The journey to this town was an arduous one with many cold, icy days and even colder nights where it was almost impossible to get a fire going.

Ruby vaguely recalled reading about it in an old history book back at Beacon. Something about a boring assignment requiring knowledge of the different settlements, big or small, around Remnant. She could hardly remember it was that boring but she now thanked the brother Gods for the knowledge she gained from that tedious task.  
‘Back when things were easier and simpler.’ She thought, idly.

One piece of knowledge she took away from it though was this Port of Arden. It was possibly one of the farthest settlements from the rest of Remnant that was feasible for the young Reaper to travel to on foot. The biggest advantage of the town was the fact that it was decently separated from other forms of civilisation where she could keep to herself and not hurt anyone, especially her team.

She sighed at that, the errant thought of her dream dredging up emotions and feelings she didn’t want to feel.  
Noticing she’d stopped walking and began to shiver, the young faunus reached into the pouch on her belt, retrieving a map of Solitas she’d acquired from her father’s cabin. 

Unfolding the page and briefly looking over it, she sighed again before glancing up at her surroundings, trying to figure out exactly where she was.  
The wolf faunus spotted several things that were conveniently labelled on the map. It certainly made it easier to navigate the frozen forests and icy tundra. 

Folding it back up and placing it in her belt pouch, she was just about to continue on when a shaking bush caught her attention.  
Cautiously, Ruby made her way over to it, grabbing Infernal Rose from her back and readying it for whatever may be there. She slowly stepped around the bushes and came face to face with a tiny, shivering ball of pitch black fur.   
She quickly glanced around, ensuring there was nothing else hiding and bidding it’s time to attack.  
Finding nothing out of the ordinary, the young Reaper turned her attention back to the small ball of fur. She bent down and picked up a stick with her free hand and poked the tiny creature lightly.

It let out an almighty Yelp and tried to scurry further into the bushes, to no avail. Ruby immediately dropped the stick and quickly put away her weapon, crouching down and warily reached out. 

The small creature let out several pathetic whimpers and whines when the wolf faunus gently picked it up.   
“Well, aren’t you adorable.” Ruby said to the small creature, gazing into its glowing red eyes. 

The little fuzz ball looked to be some sort of Grimm with its black fur, crimson eyes and patterned, armoured mask. The only things different from other Grimm was its size and the fact that it’s markings were black instead of red.

Carefully checking the unusual creature for any injuries, she felt a small, warm tongue lick her hand.   
“Why? Why do that? Aren’t you scared I’ll hurt you?” She questioned the dog-looking Grimm, not expecting an answer. To her surprise, it responded with a noise much like a puppy and licked her hand again.   
“Take that as a no.” She sighed and stood, tucking the puppy-like Grimm her arm in her black cloak. 

Another glance around and she groaned, now only noticing the encroaching darkness of night. The young faunus needed to find shelter before the sun completely set.   
The further North she travelled, the less time the sun stayed up. Currently it had only been daylight for around seven hours, meaning Ruby was at least a day or two away from the Port of Arden.

Walking back to the trail and trekking for another half an hour, the exhausted faunus thankfully found a small cave with an overhang. Thanking the Gods for the overhang and the many pieces of dry tree debris, she entered the cave, placed the Grimm pup on the ground and began collecting everything she could use for a fire.

Ten minutes later, the fire was built and lit, roaring away and heating the young girl’s body up.  
Whilst she rummaged around in her backpack for the small amount of rations she had, the small Grimm padded around the cave, sniffing each and every nook and cranny.  
Sighing at the tiny amount of beef jerky she pulled out, she set it aside before grabbing a small pot and her water bottle.

The only advantage to being in the never ending snow was that no one would ever die of thirst. They could either eat the snow or melt it and drink it as they travelled.   
The young Reaper stood and began to gather clumps of snow when she was certain the fire wouldn’t be blown out before walking back, dumping what she’d gathered into the pot and left it by the side of the fire.   
She took one glance at the beef jerky and scrunched her nose in disgust, putting it away into her backpack.

Staring into the fire, the young faunus became lost in a memory, something about being in the cave bringing up slightly happier times.   
It was when she’d run out of Ozpin’s office after finding out Qrow is her father, running to the cave in the Emerald Forest. Weiss turning up out of the blue ad listening to everything she had to say. Comforting her like no one else ever did. Accidentally breaking her partner’s nose after waking up from a nightmare and fixing it afterwards. The way she’d picked Weiss up mid-sentence, making her half squeal, half scream just so they could get back to Beacon faster than walking. The accompanying blush when Weiss jumped out of her arms when they’d arrived.

Another memory surfaced as her lips curled into a small smile. The day they met and the way her partner blushed when silver met blue. The way Weiss had been checking her out and everything in between.  
Ruby smiled properly at that particular memory, remembering how easily she had fallen for the other girl’s blush.

With the memory of meeting Weiss came another, one she vaguely remembered and often wondered if it actually happened.   
The feeling of soft, loving lips pressing against her own. The way those same lips became salty with trailing tears from the both of them. The way stunning ocean blue orbs flickered open after the kiss, gazing sadly into Ruby’s shocked and confused crimson.   
The young Reaper’s hand subconsciously traced over her own chapped lips as the memory replayed in her mind. Unfortunately, the butterflies dancing from her stomach to her chest and back again didn’t last long as the next parts of the memory flooded through. The feeling of warm, crimson liquid engulfing her Grimm hand. The shock, fear and panic of what she’d done to her partner and then to Yang setting in when she’d realised what she’d done.

A whine came from her left along with a tap of a small paw on her arm, startling her out of the memory. The young faunus blinked rapidly, trying to stop the tears from flooding down her cheeks. It was no use, they just kept coming.  
Another whine caught her attention that time and she glanced to the source, finding the Grimm pup looking at her with an expression she couldn’t decipher. Sadness? Sympathy? She couldn’t tell.

Shaking her head and wiping the tears away, the young Reaper reached out and let her hand fall through surprisingly soft black fur. She sniffled and allowed the little Grimm to sit on her lap.  
She didn’t even bother to stop it from licking her chin and playfully biting at her hands.

20 minutes went by in a flash and eventually Ruby stood, placing the Grimm pup on the ground and set up her sleeping bag for the few hours of sleep she would get.   
She took off her boots and climbed in, calling the fluff ball over and snuggling up, soon drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

***

Several hours later, Ruby awoke to something shaking next to her. Sitting up, she saw the black fur of her new companion shivering violently. She soon realised the fire had gone out, plunging the small cave in darkness no human could ever hope to see in. 

Reaching over to her pack, she rummaged around in it again until she found what she was looking for; a blocked, out of service scroll. She only ever used it for the time so she could predict how long it would take to get to another place marked on the map.   
Switching it on and waiting, the young faunus stood and placed the Grimm pup into it. When the scroll was finally on, she looked at the time, noting that she’d slept for quite awhile.   
It was well past 6 in the morning. The sun would be coming up soon. She hoped. 

Not that she was particularly bothered about travelling in darkness since it was what she’d been doing for the past few months. Especially now that darkness swallowed the world faster the more she trekked North.

Switching the scroll off again, Ruby went into the pack again, picked out the beef jerky and began eating. She’d need the energy to keep moving. She couldn’t be no more than a day away from the Port of Arden now.  
After eating, the young girl packed her sleeping bag away, gathered up the still sleeping bundle of black and set off into the darkness.

The Grimm pup soon awoke after travelling for a little bit, wanting to be let down so it could follow behind. Another hour went by walking the icy trail, the small Grimm still managing to walk behind, although it had to jump over the snow more than actually walk.

Ruby’s attention was brought to the Grimm pup when it began to whinge and whine. She turned and chuckled at the sight. It’s entire body was covered in snow, making it look like a living snow sculpture.   
The young faunus chuckled again, tracing her steps back to the little Grimm and picked it up, brushing off the snow. That earned her several licks to the cheek.

“You are so fucking adorable, you know that?” The young girl questioned it, gaining absolutely adorable noises in response.  
‘Maybe I should give it a name?’ She thought as she gazed into glowing red eyes. ‘Actually, no. I don’t wanna become too attached. Not after what happened with Barrett…’  
Her thoughts trailed off after that, starting to go back into the void of despair. 

The young Reaper tried to ignore the small amount of pain the memory brought but ultimately, she wouldn’t be able to ignore her pain forever.   
As memories of her bear Grimm friend went from mostly happy ones to the most unhappy where she watched her friend die.   
Vague rage-filled images flitted through her mind, those of her murdering the four huntsmen just doing their job. 

Guilt swept itself through her heart from what she’d done but then anger began to flood her veins instead. They’d killed her friend and could see she wasn’t in danger so they deserved it.   
But then again, their deaths hadn’t brought him back had it? As quickly as the anger came, it disappeared, being replaced with pain. The feeling of her heart breaking into tiny unfixable pieces. 

The young girl collapsed to her knees, not even bothering about the cold and wet sweeping through her legs. She held onto the Grimm pup as tightly as she could without hurting it and tried to silent sob but eventually broke down into full-on loud, body wracking sobs.

Every single thing she’d done, every life she’d taken making her cry out louder and louder until it echoed through the forest. Taking the lives of innocent and guilty people. Injuring two of her teammates and then killing those four huntsmen.   
The guilt and pain had been piling up from other things as well.   
Like how she’d let her team down when Blake had unwillingly betrayed them and how she let herself get abducted, resulting in Yang losing an arm.

The young faunus cried for what seemed like several hours, just sitting in the snow and holding the small Grimm pup, even as it licked her chin.  
She hadn’t let her emotions show for a long time, not since she visited Weiss in the hospital five months ago. She had thought that holding in her emotions would make her strong, that if she tried to push the guilt away, it would help her to forget everything she did. She was wrong. So very wrong.   
Ruby finally realised that it only made her weak. 

Soon enough, her loud sobs turned into quiet sniffles and her grip on the small Grimm in her arms lessened. She was just about to stand when the fluff ball wriggled free and took up a defensive stance, growling as threateningly as it could.

The new hostile behaviour wasn’t directed at Ruby but at several dozen Beowolves. She was surrounded by them, many put them growling and snarling at her whilst a few others stood on their hind legs and howled.

There were so many, the young Reaper lost count after fifty and she wondered what had brought them here. Then she realised.  
She’d been pouring negative emotions out into the forest, a forest where all manner of Grimm resided. 

She very slowly stood and reached for Infernal Rose behind her. It was like a switch had been flipped because as soon as she gripped the shaft of her scythe, the Grimm charged and struck out in an instant.  
Ruby tried her best to dodge every clawed paw that went her way, mostly moving out of the way but some find their way to her back or shoulders.

As she dodged, she countered and sliced through the beasts one by one, using her semblance more often that she’d have liked to move out of the way of the next claws coming her way.   
The young Reaper needed to get out of there. She needed a plan or something.  
Then she saw it. There were a smaller amount of Grimm to the right of the trail.   
Beheading a few Beowolves in that direction, she activated her semblance and infused it with what little Grimm energy she had left, pushing it far beyond its limits. All it would take was one hit from one of the beasts and her aura would fail. 

Dashing past at least twenty Grimm, she came to the end of them, the Beowolves only just missing her with their razor sharp claws.   
She kept going but knew she wouldn’t be able to keep it up long as her aura had already been low. The freezing temperatures sapped away most of it and only recovered slightly when she was warm enough.

The young Reaper glanced behind her and saw every single Beowolf running after her. Looking away was one of the biggest mistakes she would ever do because as she looked forwards again, an enormous pincer came slamming down a meter in front of her. She had no time to fully dodge the attack, deactivating her semblance and then reactivating it, she managed to just about get around it, clipping her right shoulder. 

The young faunus almost went flying but was able to regain her footing, only to run straight into another pincer. Her aura completely shattered from the impact, making her bounce back and fall to the ground.

Dazed, Ruby lay there for a moment and then remembered what was happening and moved just in time before a bright amber stinger could pierce through her stomach. She quickly but dizzily got to her feet and tried to use her semblance again. Nothing happened.   
She tried again and had to dodge a giant pincer coming to cut her body in half with what was left, falling to the ground again.

The young girl stood again, only to be pierced through by a stinger from the back. She screamed as the sharp end erupted through her front, blood pouring from her mouth. The Deathstalker that was about to kill her, lifted her in the end and flung her in the direction she was originally going. 

Consciousness came and went as she flew through the air, four Deathstalkers and over fifty Beowolves chasing after her on the ground.   
She hit the ground with several bones cracking, the pain causing her to fall completely unconscious.   
She jolted awake again at the familiar sound of airship engines and enormous guns blasting away any and all Grimm in the area.

One of the scorpion Grimm managed to make it through the airship gunfire, scuttling towards the downed Reaper.   
It raised its stinger one more time, get ready to take Ruby’s life once and for all.

“Ruby! Move!” A voice in the distance shouted.  
A voice the dying girl recognised and could never forget no matter how long it had been or how much her body insisted on shutting down.  
She did as the voice said, moving out of the way just as the stinger came rushing down, plunging into the dirt and getting stuck.

All Ruby would ever recall would be the screeching of a Deathstalker, the chime of glyphs coming to life, a giant glowing knight and beautiful white flowing hair.  
She won’t ever remember saying the person’s name out loud before completely blacking out. 

“Weiss…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooooo, Weiss comes to Ruby’s rescue. I wonder how she knew where Ruby was?   
> Well, we’ll find that out in chapter 10.   
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter because it took me too long to write it.   
> Any errors or anything, please let me know and I’ll get them sorted. 
> 
> Anywho, thanks for reading! I hope to see you all in the next chapter.   
> Chapter 10: Memorial  
> Byeee for now!


	10. Memorial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weiss, Whitley and their Mother go to a public Memorial Service for Jacques. Weiss isn’t happy that he’s gotten away with everything that happened at the facility twelve months ago and decides to set everyone straight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyoooo. Thought I’d update again today as it may be awhile until I update again. Not sure yet.   
> But in any case, I hope you all enjoy the new chapter. It’s a long one.  
> 6012 words in total.

A year. A full 12 months since the facility incident. Since Weiss had been gravely injured.   
Five months since she’d woken up from her coma.   
It felt like a lifetime ago. The only thing that always reminded her that it wasn’t, was the fact that she was still losing her sense of self. Her explosive episodes had become more frequent as the months went by. Now they were happening nearly everyday, exploding at anyone and everyone. Her mother, brother, even her sister and the doctors. 

No doctor wanted to help her after the last few times and sent her home to Schnee manor.   
Winter was still trying to find answers about what was happening to her but always came up empty. Even Weiss tried looking in the manor’s library and even contacted Ozpin. Apparently he knew nothing about it too.

The white-haired girl would be continuing her search for answers if it weren’t for the event she was being forced to attend. A Memorial Service for her father.   
It was only happening because of the media and Atlas Military covering up how Jacques Schnee had died, reporting that he had been attacked in his own office in the SDC Headquarters by the White Fang, being killed in the process. 

It boiled her blood to know her father had gotten away with it, knowing he had everything to do with the facility and his victims.  
It was a wonder why none of those victims had come forward about it but then again, they were promised to be cared for, especially those that remained after the White Fang attacked a rehab centre with many of them in it.  
That was covered up too with Weiss only finding out about it through her sister who came to visit every week.

Sitting at her desk in her bedroom, Weiss was looking over an already written speech for the Memorial. It said how loving her father was. How he cared for them and made sure his staff were well paid and everything else that was a lie about him. Getting to the next lie, she ripped the papers from the desk and scrunched them up.   
No way in hell was she going to say any of that. She was going to tell the truth about her father. Call him out and make sure he was turning in his grave. She didn’t care, she wanted the world to know that he was involved and that she and her sister had gathered enough evidence to prove it.

Taking her scroll out, she brought up a private number and pressed call. It rang a few times before someone answered.

“Hello Gerald. I need you to get a hold of the folder I gave you to keep safe until I need them. I need them now. Meet me at the Memorial site with the folder.” She said before the other person could even speak.

The white-haired girl listened for a moment, the person on the line agreeing to meet up with her.

“Good. Thank you. Make sure everything is in there. Don’t lose anything on the way.” She replied and then hung up. 

There was a knock on her door and she stood, striding over to it and opening it, finding her family butler standing there with a small, caring smile.  
“Miss Schnee, it’s time to go.” He said, moving to the side so she could walk out of her room.

“Thank you for letting me know Klein. Also, put this in the trash, I have no need for it.” She replied, handing him the scrunched up speech.

“Of course.” Came the simple reply.

Walking off down the hall, she wondered why her mother and brother were going with her. She already knew why Winter couldn’t go. She had been called for a mission in a place in the North East of Solitas to exterminate a large number of Grimm spotted travelling towards the settlement there. They were closing in to the medium sized settlement called the Port of Arden, obviously being a large enough threat that warranted the help of the military.

A servant was already by the door with her coat and handbag, waiting patiently.  
Her brother and mother were also there, waiting impatiently and scowling at her. She scowled back as she retrieved the items from the servant, put them on and simply walked out of the front door to a limousine, getting in and sitting at the far end.  
The other two followed suit.

The journey to the venue was silent and uncomfortable with Weiss’ mother already drinking a glass of wine. Where she’d gotten it from, Weiss didn’t know.  
Her brother, Whitely was looking through his scroll, his gaze fixated on something that the white-haired girl couldn’t make out. 

Another twenty minutes of uncomfortable silence went by when they finally arrived at the public event. Not that there were many people from poorer backgrounds at the venue. It was mostly the Atlas elite coming to pay their respects to a man that didn’t deserve it.

After departing the limousine Weiss separated from her mother and brother, finding her way to the ridiculously large buffet area. The only item of interest was the bar at the far end.   
A glass of wine couldn’t hurt anyone, could it?

With a scowl firmly in place, the former heiress made her way to the bar, ordered a glass of wine and idly sipped at it, glancing over every individual that had turned up to the Memorial Service.

She was right with one thing. The people there were mostly the filthy rich, most likely discussing tedious and unimportant things.   
Weiss turned her attention back to the glass of wine in her hand, taking another sip. 

It seemed her mother had the same idea as she strode through the small crowd purposefully like she owned the place.  
Well, her mother actually did own the building they were in.

Weiss rolled her eyes at the irony and turned away from her approaching mother. 

“Weiss, it isn’t very polite to turn away from your mother now, is it?” Her mother chided, stepping up next to her daughter.

Weiss simply huffed and continued to ignore her, taking another sip of her wine and then deciding it was best just to drink the rest in one go.  
Once the younger Schnee placed the glass on the bar, her mother grabbed her by the arm, perfectly manicured nails digging into her flesh.

“Do not mess this up. Any outbursts or say anything other than in your approved written speech, you will be in big trouble.” Her mother warned, leaning in close to her daughter’s ear.

Weiss tried to pull her arm back but couldn’t, her mother’s grip far too tight. So instead, she scowled into her mother’s eyes, challenging her to say what sort of trouble that would be.  
Her mother didn’t answer so she asked the burning questions instead. 

“And what will you do? Lock me in my room like father did? Slap me across the face like father did? Pull my hair just like father did? I don’t see how you would dare to even harm me with my condition getting worse everyday.” She questioned, keeping her voice to a whisper just in case someone was listening in but made sure to let the venom in her tone be heard by the older Schnee.  
“So, what will you do mother?” 

A look of fear flashed across the older woman’s eyes, seeing red flickering in her daughter’s own.   
She looked away and let Weiss’ arm go, taking a large gulp of her own wine.   
In truth, she wouldn’t do anything. The younger Schnee already knew that. 

“I thought as much.” She said anyway and gestured for the bartender to pour her another glass of wine.   
Before she could take a sip, the announcement for the main event rang through the building, telling everyone to make their way to the back of the building and take their seats outside.

Weiss and her mother followed everyone out, taking their own seats just to the left of the stage. Her brother was nowhere to be seen.   
Behind the stage stood what was most likely a statue of their father covered in a silk sheet. The stage itself was something that could be easily taken back down again accompanied with a microphone and a stand. The decorations were that of white and light blue drapes with their family snowflake sigil on them.   
Talk about overboard. 

The white-haired girl zoned out as everyone that knew her father stood on the stage and said their bit about the man, claiming he was loved by all and was great friends with his staff and many other untrue things about the power hungry monster. 

“Miss Schnee?” A voice to her right said, startling her out of her thoughts on what she was going to say. 

“You’re late, Gerald. You’re lucky I’m somewhere at the end.” She replied, glancing at the man holding a red folder. 

“Apologies, Miss Schnee. The guards at the front wouldn’t allow me in so I had to find another way in.” The man, Gerald responded, bowing in apology.

“It’s fine. Is everything in the folder?” 

“Yes. Everything you and your sister gathered is there.” He said as he handed it to her. 

“Good. And thank you, Gerald. You’ve been a great help. I’ll be making sure you and your family are well looked after for all you've done for me.” Weiss replied, standing to shake the man’s hand and nodding her head down in gratitude.

Gerald stepped away after that and watched from the sidelines.  
Weiss looked back to the stage and noticed her mother was almost finished with her speech, making it her own turn sooner than she would’ve liked.

Quickly, she flipped through the folder to actually make sure everything she needed was there. Thankfully, it was. Every bit of evidence against her father and the atrocities he’d done to not just her own partner but to every other child and teenager in the facility.   
There were several documents signed by him as well as approval documents for new experiments. They even detailed Ruby’s abduction when she was a child. How Winter had managed to get a hold of something so important baffled Weiss but it would help in condemning their father. 

With her mother finished with her own speech, Weiss stood, ready to take her turn but not really knowing how to tell everyone who and what her father really was.   
‘Guess I’ll just have to wing it.’ She thought to herself as she stood behind the stand.

“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I thank you for all of the kind words you have spoken of my father. They are all wonderful and greatly appreciated,” She began, pausing to arrange her thoughts. “But not by me as they are all lies. He was not a wonderful and caring man. He was not a loving father and husband. My father was a monster and you are all aware of that fact-“

“Weiss!” Her mother whisper-yelled up to the stage, interrupting her.  
The younger Schnee just ignored her and continued on like she hadn’t been interrupted.

“You all know my father, Jacques Schnee wasn’t as perfect as you all say he was. He was a monster. It’s not the fact that he admitted to marrying my mother just for the company on my tenth birthday. It isn’t the fact that my father set a Grimm known as the Arma Gigas on me just to prove I was worthy enough to attend Beacon Academy either. It is the fact that Jacques Schnee has gotten away with a multitude of crimes where the military and the media have covered them all up.” She continued, getting into the flow of it all.

Murmurs and whispers coursed through the crowd down below, moving across the people like a small wave waiting to break into shouts of disbelief. Weiss paid them no mind.

“Those crimes were everything to do with the illegal research facility. He was the head of it, creating an army of strong, hard to kill soldiers. Those soldiers were nothing more than children and teenagers who faced the horrors of experimentation. Over half of the victims were originally human children, only being turned into rare faunus with a new dust that was found over a decade ago. That dust was modified to change the genetic structure of humans. The victims also faced another dust that took away their memories. Their memories of family and friends, making it easier for Jacques Schnee to control them.” Weiss explained, undeterred and wanting to get absolutely everything she knew out into the world. 

She looked over to her mother and saw that she was speaking to security guards, most likely telling them to get her daughter off of the stage before she embarrassed the family name.   
She needed to get everything out before they dragged her off the stage.

“What made these experiments that much worse for the victims wasn’t just their genetics being changed but the fact they were under experimentation for something else. That something made them the monsters they are now. They will never go back to being who they were before. These experiments involved a legendary and ancient being known as a Reaper, taking their DNA and the energy of the powers Grimm use to exist and implanting it into the victims. Not all of them survived the process. Those that did were forced to train without even unlocking their aura or semblance. Many died in their training as they would be forced to fight to the death with each other.”

The security guards were now climbing the stage steps, stalking towards her. She threw a glare towards them and they thankfully stopped. She nodded to them and they nodded back, allowing her to continue without any interruptions.

“You are all probably wondering how Jacques Schnee managed such a thing. How he managed to gain the DNA of a Reaper and how to harness the power of Grimm. Well, he abducted someone you are all familiar with when she was just a child. Her mother was killed just so he could get his greedy little hands on her and use her for his own gain. This girl was a Reaper and she was my partner at Beacon Academy. You all know her as the Crimson Reaper.”

More murmurs swept through the crowd, growing louder but not deterring Weiss. She looked to her mother and saw a look of shock on her face. Her mother hadn’t known of the truth but she definitely believed everything her daughter was saying.

“The assassin that took out those that got in the way of my father’s plans. She was one of the first to be experimented on, turned into a faunus and had her memories wiped clean. It was only going to Beacon Academy that she regained her memories. It didn’t last as my father employed Adam Taurus to abduct her yet again. He sent her to kill my sister and I on the night his research facility fell. That was his own undoing. The sight of myself caused my partner to remember everything. She ran back to the facility and killed my father for everything he had done to her and the other victims. He deserved far more than death, he deserved to suffer just like his victims had-“

“How can you prove all of this!? Do you have the evidence!?” Someone from the crowd shouted, interrupting her.

She smiled ever so slightly and raised the red folder.  
“Everything I have just explained and more is in this folder. My sister and I suspected Jacques Schnee of his crimes and decided to investigate and gather information. We have managed to gather everything in this folder. The Atlesian Military have more evidence condemning Jacques Schnee than I have. So, ask yourselves this, was my father actually a loving, caring man like you say he was or was he a power hungry, maniac of a man that only ever cared about himself and his own goals? I will leave you all to answer that yourselves. Thank you for allowing me to tell you the truth.”   
The white-haired girl said, finally finishing her speech, stepping off of the stage and sitting next to her mother again.

“Weiss. Is all of what you said true? It can’t be true…” her mother said, obviously trying to deny it all.

“You know it is, mother. We all know it is.” 

***  
Several hours passed by and Weiss was back at her desk in her bedroom. The Memorial Service had finished early because of her speech, everyone talking about it even when she’d decided to depart along with her mother and brother.

The media had tried to follow them home to try and get an interview with all three of them, most likely wanting them to confirm that everything was true.   
All Weiss had to do now was wait for a trusted police detective to come and collect the red folder and then publish all of the information.

Now though, the white-haired girl was staring blankly at a letter she’d received as soon as she’d returned home. The envelope had her name and address messily scrawled onto it. Handwriting she recognised as her partners. 

She’d already opened the envelope but couldn’t unfold the paper to read the words written on it.   
Sighing deeply and steeling herself, Weiss finally picked the letter back up, unfolded it and began to read.

Dear Weiss,

I have no idea if you’ll ever read this letter but if you are, hi!

Weiss smiled at that part, re-reading it just because she could. Ruby was such a dolt sometimes.  
Reading it was a third time, she continued with the rest of the letter. 

I specifically requested that this letter only be delivered to you exactly a year after what happened in the facility. I wrote this letter the day you woke up in hospital and gave it to your sister when she left. I had to hang around on the rooftop for awhile but it was worth it. And yes, I did kinda steal a pen and some paper so I could write this.

I’m sorry I couldn’t stay longer and I’m sorry I haven’t come to see you since then. I decided I don’t want to be around the people I care about in case I ever hurt you all again. Especially you. The guilt for what I did to you weighs me down everyday. 

I’m sorry for all of the misery I put you through, in Beacon and at the facility. I’m sorry I killed your father, even though I still think he deserved it.

Now that I can’t hurt any of you every again, you’ll probably be happier without me around. And besides, I’m pretty sure I still have a bounty on my head in Atlas so it wouldn’t be safe for me to return yet. Or ever.

If you do ever want to see me again, please don’t. I don’t wanna hurt you. But, if I can’t persuade you not to come looking for me, I may as well tell you where I’m going. I’m probably there by now anyway and if I’m not, I’m probably fighting a bunch of Grimm in the forest or on the main trail.

I’m going to a settlement in the Northeast of Solitas called the Port of Arden. I remember the assignment we did about the different settlements around Remnant and knew that this place barely ever suffered from Grimm attacks and the people are nice enough too. 

I’ve decided I’m going to work there as extra muscle to make sure that any Grimm that are brave enough to attack won’t get through. I’ll protect the people as best I can so monsters like myself can’t hurt anyone.

Goodbye Weiss. If you do decide to come after me, you’re really going to have your work cut out for you. I won’t be so easily swayed. 

From your former partner, Ruby.

The white-haired girl re-read the letter twice, knowing there was something about the letter she should be alarmed about. She read it again and stopped at one part that stood out to her. 

‘I’m going to a settlement in the Northeast of Solitas called the Port of Arden.’

Why was that part so important? Why did it stand out so much compared to the rest of the letter?  
Then it hit her so hard she forgot to breath.

Winter was going to the Port of Arden to exterminate the large amount of Grimm heading that way! Ruby was going there or she was already there! 

Weiss shot to her feet, grabbed her scroll and called Gerald again. Whilst it was ringing she grabbed a small suitcase and began to stuff it with clothes, dust and her newly forged rapier, Myrtenaster. She even packed a weapons maintenance kit, her toothbrush and toothpaste. 

The call hadn’t gone through so she tried again as she shoved a pair of boots on practical enough for the snow. She couldn’t be bothered with wearing any heels, even if they boots with a heel on. 

The call finally went through and she immediately put it on speakerphone.

“Gerald, I need your help. I need to get to the Port of Arden as soon as possible. Like today, within a couple of hours.” She said as quickly as her mouth would let her.

“Of course Miss Schnee. I still owe you another favour. Unfortunately I cannot guarantee you’ll get to that destination within a couple of hours. I still have clients to see plus I’ll need to inform my airship pilot his vacation is over.” Gerald replied calmly, shuffling sounds coming from his side of the call.

“Gerald, I’ll make it worth your while if you drop your clients today and fly me there yourself. I know you have a pilot's license.” She responded desperately. 

“Miss Schnee, I can’t just drop my clients. I’ll lose them otherwise. I’m sorry but I cannot help you directly this time, I’m just too busy. Your father had a private airship, use that and find a pilot. I’m sure someone will be willing to fly you there if you ask.” He said, sounding regretful that he couldn’t help. 

“Okay fine. Where is this private airship?” 

“It’s in the private docks on the west side of the city. It’s 5pm now meaning it’s rush hour. It’ll take you approximately two hours to get through the traffic since you’re on the east side of the city.” Gerald explained before adding, “Oh and one more thing, your father used to keep the keys to it in his office. They might still be there. And again, I’m sorry I can’t directly help you.”

“No, it’s fine. I should have known you’d be busy. How do I get into the private docks?” Weiss asked, already making her way to her fathers old office with her suitcase behind her.

“The key has a card attached to it. Use the card to get through the gates and doors and give the key to anyone who’s willing to fly you to the Port. I’m sorry, Miss Schnee but I have to go now. My next client is here.” Gerald said. “Hope to speak again soon.”

“Thank you and goodbye, Gerald.” She responded before the line went dead.

Leaving her suitcase against the wall, the white-haired girl tried the handle on her father's office door. Thanking the God’s that it was open. 

Stepping into the cold office that held so many horrid memories, Weiss immediately began to look around.  
From the shelves on the walls to the bookcases to the old oak desk. She opened every single drawer apart from one. It needed a key.   
Two keys she had to look for now.

She looked into the top right drawer again, noticing a small hole in the corner. Picking up a pen and undoing it so only the ink holder was left, she poked it into the small hole. A pop and the bottom of the drawer came up. The white-haired girl lifted it up completely and came across what she’d been looking for the entire time. The key and card to the airship.

Something else was in the drawer that piqued her interest more than the key though.   
It was an incredibly old looking book, bound in leather that had cracked and discoloured over the years. It’s cover was written in the old Atlesian language, making Weiss even more curious.   
She picked the book out as carefully as she could and opened it on the desk. 

Dates and times scattered the pages as well as more words Weiss barely understood. She now regretted not listening to her tutor on old and very ancient languages. 

The white-haired girl flipped the pages gently, trying to decipher the words. Some of them she did remember but most were a mystery.  
She flipped it back to the front page, now noticing that Valean was written on the inner cover. 

‘This journal belongs to Alexander Schnee. Anyone caught trying to read this journal will lose their hands.’

Old Atlesian was under it, most likely stating the same thing. As curious as she was, the white-haired girl needed to get going now she had the airship key. The journal would have to wait.   
Or she could take it with her as she knew that some of the people in the Port of Arden still spoke Old Atlesian.

Placing everything else back into the drawer and closing it, she exited the office and called for a servant to get a car ready. She was about to tell her mother where she was going but thought better of it and altered her course back to the front doors, getting her coat and handbag before waltzing out and getting into the car.

‘I’m on my way Ruby. You really don’t know the trouble you’re in right now.’ 

***

Finally. Fucking finally she was on her way to the Port of Arden. After all of the messing about the pilots and other staff members did in the private airship dock, Weiss was finally in the air.   
They’d made her wait for two and a half hours before even considering letting her hire a pilot that was willing to travel so far Northeast. It had already taken her over two hours to get across the city because of how bad rush hour was. 

To top it all off, no one had wanted to help her at first, forcing her to beg and plead to the last one she hadn’t spoken to. Fortunately, he had agreed on one condition: that he gets paid in full before the flight.   
Weiss couldn’t exactly refuse. 

She was thankful that the pilot wasn’t talkative, making it easier for her to concentrate on checking her weapon. She wasn’t sure how long the flight would take but gathered that it would be awhile until they got there. 

After checking her rapier over one more time, she thought it best to get some rest since it was past 12 in the morning. She reclined her chair and fell into a sleep full of images of her partner.

***

“Miss Schnee! Wake up!” Weiss’ pilot shouted, startling her out of a dream she never wanted to have again. 

“Wha...what is it? What time is it?” She groggily asked, sitting up and running her eyes.

“We’re almost there. It’s around 8:40am or so. I hope you don’t expect me to land in the forest.” He said before walking back to the cockpit.

“What? Why?” She questioned again, standing from her seat and following the pilot. 

“I saw an Atlesian gunship firing at more Grimm than I’ve ever seen. I think I saw someone else down on the ground trying to fight them off too.” The pilot said, sitting back down.

“What!? We have to go back! You don’t need to land, I can just jump from up here.” The white-haired girl said, running back into the main part of the airship to grab her rapier.

“Miss Schnee, are you serious!? I can’t let-“

“Yes you can. And yes you will. The person you saw is the reason I needed to come up here in the first place, so turn this airship around. Now!” Weiss demanded, getting ready by the locked doors.

“Fine but it’s your funeral!” The pilot said, finally turning around and opening the ship’s doors.

The wind that blew through the door was so cold it took Weiss’ breath away for a moment. She stepped back to make sure she wouldn’t lose her footing while she coughed to get her breath back.  
Then she saw it. A black blur on a cliff lay still as an enormous Deathstalker scuttled towards them. 

“Down there! Take me down now!” Weiss shouted over the wind.  
The pilot thankfully heard her and took the airship down as quickly as it would go. When they were just about to hit the ground, Weiss jumped out. She used a propulsion glyph to speed herself up across the snowy floor.  
Halfway there, she saw what she didn’t want to happen. 

The Deathstalker had raised its stinger, intent on piercing her partner.  
“Ruby! Move!” She shouted in desperation. 

To her surprise, the black and bleeding figure moved out of the way just in time.  
The scorpion Grimm’s strike was so strong, it’s stinger got stuck in the dirt. It screeched as it struggled.

Weiss took that as her cue to summon her knight, ordering it to take out the Grimm so she could concentrate on Ruby.

All she saw was blood. Lots and lots of blood. She saw her partner’s eyes flickering before closing completely. She was caught off guard when one word slipped out of Ruby’s mouth before she passed out.

“Weiss…”

“I’m...I’m here Ruby. I’m here! Don’t you dare die on me! I’ll get you some help.” Weiss cried as she held onto her partner’s stomach to try and stop the bleeding. 

“Miss Schnee!” Her pilot shouted, coming up next to her. “We need to get her on the airship and into the Port.” 

“No! She needs to be taken to Atlas.” Weiss argued.

“She won’t make it, Miss Schnee. She’s dying and if she doesn’t get the help she needs, she will die. The closest place with a hospital is the Port of Arden.” The pilot argued back, kneeling down and picking the injured girl up.

Weiss followed him back to the aircraft and as soon as she was put in one of the chairs, the white-haired girl got to work on trying to save her partner’s life, using fire dust to cauterise the wound on the back and front.

***

Weiss had been waiting for hours now. Waiting to hear if her partner had survived or not. She’d already cried enough to dry her tears for a few days.   
The most worrying thing was, was the fact Ruby hadn’t responded to anything. She’d even stopped breathing when they’d finally made it to the nearest hospital. The doctors and nurses had worked so hard to bring her back. Then she was immediately taken into an emergency surgery.   
That was three hours ago.

The white-haired girl needed to think of something else other than, what if she’d been a moment later? What if she hadn’t gotten to Ruby on time or not known how to summon her knight?   
There were many what ifs going through her head.

A distraction soon came forth, making Weiss sigh in relief. It was short lived however when she saw who was calling her scroll.

Winter.

She let it ring a few more times before answering.

“Hello Winter. What’s up?” She said, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice.

“Hello Weiss. Nothing, I suppose. I would like to know where you are though.” Came the smooth reply.

‘Shit. She knows.’

“I’m at home, Winter. You...er you just woke me up actually.”

“Really? Well, I have a report from a few soldiers saying someone saw father’s airship in the Port of Arden.” Winter responded, knowing Weiss was lying but letting her dig a deeper hole.

“Really? Well, mother must have travelled there. As I said, I’m at home.” This time, the nervousness wouldn’t stay out of her voice. 

“Well I can tell you now, you are either dreaming you are at home or you’re blatantly lying to me, knowing I know you’re in the Port. I happened to get a call from a well respected surgeon in the only hospital in the Port saying you are in the waiting room and that they have Miss Rose.” The older Schnee said, catching Weiss out like a deer caught in a trap.

The younger Schnee opened and closed her mouth several times before shutting it completely, not able to come up with a reply.  
Eventually she responded with a sincere apology.  
“I’m sorry Winter. I didn’t want to have to lie to you. It’s just, Ruby is still wanted in Atlas and I didn’t want you to arrest her.” 

Winter sighed. “It’s fine, Weiss. You had the reasons to lie to me. I won’t arrest her as long as she answers a few questions. When she’s up for it of course.”

“Thank you. Where are you right now by the way?” Weiss asked, mostly curious and definitely not being nosy.

“I’m in the hospital trying to get past the receptionist.” Came the annoyed sounding response.

“Oh. Well, I could come and tell them it’s okay if you want?”

“No, it’s fine Weiss. They’ve just let me through. See you in a minute.” Her sister said before hanging up.

For a few minutes, Weiss stared at her scroll. Her sister came through the double doors at the end of the waiting room in that time, marching up to her with an angry expression on her face.

Weiss stood upon noticing her sister. “Winter, I-“

“Stop. We will talk properly about it all later. For now, I think it’s best you concentrate on your partner.” Winter said, nodding towards a pair of doors on the opposite side of the waiting room.

The white-haired girl turned in that direction. A doctor was politely waiting for her, stepping forwards when she turned his way.

“Miss Schnee, could I have a word please.” He said, eyeing Winter as well as Weiss as he asked.

“Of course. What is it? Is Ruby alright?”

“I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?” The doctor inquired, placing his arms behind his back.

“Just get on with it.” The older Schnee said before Weiss could even mutter a word.

“Okay. Well, Miss Rose will survive but there is no telling when she will wake up. Her injuries were not easy to fix. Her aura is completely depleted and will take time to recover. There is something else as well.” The doctor explained, reaching into his front pocket.

“What is it?” Weiss asked again, worry colouring her tone.

“We...found this…” he handed a vial of blood to the younger Schnee. “In her blood.”

She eyed it carefully and only just noticed the black liquid swirling within the crimson. “What is this?” She questioned, looking back to the Doctor, concern now completely etched onto her face.

“We’re not sure but-“ the Doctor began.

“That was in your blood.” Winter blurted, also eyeing the vial. 

“What do you mean it was in my blood?” Weiss inquired curiously, an eyebrow raising above her white fringe.

“The Doctors in Atlas found that same black stuff in your blood a few months ago. Every blood test, there’s more of it. They didn’t tell you because I told them not to.” The older woman explained, grabbing the vial and inspecting it.

The doctor cleared his throat, gaining their attention again before Weiss could even say anything back.  
“I suppose you will want to see, Miss Rose?”

“Yes. Please.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally that’s at an end for now. Next will be a mixed chapter of Blake and Yang. Cba doing separate chapters for those two since they’re now together.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed and I’m sorry for the cliffhanger xD  
> I’ll see you all next time. Byeee


	11. Honesty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang and Blake have a sparring session, all is going well and they’re laughing together and having fun. That is until certain memories resurface making Yang doubt her partner. She seeks General Ironwood for the whole truth on what Blake is hiding, whether or not her cat faunus partner betrayed her.  
> Will Ironwood finally give in and tell her what she wants to know or will he still refuse?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeey everyone! Long time, no ‘see’!  
> I’m sorry I haven’t been updating until today, I’ve been swamped with college coursework and haven’t had time to concentrate on anything else.  
> This is probably gonna be a one off update as I’m still having to do a lot of coursework.  
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter. It’s probably not very good and it’s quite a slow chapter.  
> See you at the endddd

6 months after the facility incident

It was only mid-afternoon, the sky full of snow drifting lazily through the air, coating the roofs of buildings and pathways on the streets. The snow the previous night had already been cleared away on the streets of Atlas, especially on the Academy grounds but it would only make way for more in the next few hours.

Luckily for Blake and Yang, they were nowhere near the frozen white powder and icy breeze. Instead they were indoors, sweating profusely from an impromptu idea because of having no classes and being bored.

Well, Blake wouldn’t have been bored since she had plenty of reading to do but Yang had insisted that she needed to train so they’d both be ready for a mission together. That’s if Ironwood cleared the blonde for missions.

So here they were, sparring together once more. Considering the blonde could only just remember her own combat style, her instincts were still there in full force, enabling her to dodge and counter-attack when necessary. Instincts weren’t just at play, muscle memory was too. Yang might have forgotten most of her training but her body certainly hadn’t.

“Come on, is that all you’ve got? Use your semblance. You know I could take you even if you did use it.” Yang taunted cockily, moving to the right and grabbing Blake’s blade with her prosthetic.

The cat faunus responded, taunting her partner back and yanking her blade from the blonde’s grip. “If I used my semblance then there would be no point in sparring with you. I think we both know I’d win, unless you used yours.”

“Nah, I can take you without it and you know it.” The blonde gloated, stepping back into position into a boxer’s stance. 

Blake didn’t respond, simply smiling in amusement. She got into her own stance, the gleam of mischief shining in her eyes as she darted forwards.

Yang was ready for her and ducked under the blade coming at her face, using her momentum to uppercut her partner. Well, she thought she did but the only thing she hit was a dissipating Shadow. The cat faunus meanwhile, appeared on the left, Gambol Shroud coming round in an arc.  
Yang’s instincts told her to spin around and put her arms up or catch the blade again. She opted for the latter but before she could, Blake left a Shadow behind once more, foreseeing what her partner was about to do for the second time. 

This time the raven-haired girl appeared behind the blonde who spun in place with her metal fist swinging backwards towards her partner’s face.  
Blake ducked under the arm as it passed overhead, jumping up in front of the blonde and jabbing her in the side. 

Yang jerked at the jab and went to instinctively strike back but didn’t expect the cat faunus to follow up with a kick to the back of her knees, making her stumble forwards.  
Blake appeared in front of her mid-stumble with barely any space between them, grabbing the wrist of her prosthetic arm and pushing her partner over her outstretched foot.

As the blonde fell backwards, she latched onto Blake’s wrist and pulled her down with her. They fell in a heap, Yang letting out an ‘oof’ as her partner fell on top of her, the faunus’ knee accidentally striking her in the groin.

“Owww. If I knew you were gonna knee me in the groin I wouldn’t have pulled you down with me.” Yang groaned, resisting the urge to hold the newly injured area. 

“Wasn’t so bad for me. I at least got a comfortable landing.” Blake laughed, not even attempting to get off her partner, content to just continue lying on her.

Emotions and feelings she thought she’d buried a long time ago abruptly resurfaced, clouding her mind and making her lose focus on what was actually happening.  
She stared into Yang’s crimson orbs, remembering how they shone with joy and unrepentant mischief. How they used to be a beautiful shade of lilac she wanted to get lost in.  
The red of her partner’s eyes didn’t go well with the kind and caring look Yang was giving her, that was only usually reserved for when she had lilac orbs instead of blood red. 

It didn’t bother her too much but the look her partner was giving her made her want to do something stupid. Something completely and utterly idiotic. Before she could however, the blonde below her cleared her throat and she blushed a very deep shade of red.  
Yang followed suit, they’re faces competing on how flustered they could become.  
Both looked away from each other but still didn’t make any indication of moving away from each other. 

Instead, the blonde glanced back at her partner and an idea came to her. She really didn’t like being under anyone.  
“Blake?” She whispered, getting said girl to look back before grabbing onto the other girl’s waist and flipping them over with Yang now on top.  
Blake squealed in surprise and then promptly blushed more, if that was even possible. 

“I win.” Yang whispered, leaning in close enough that their noses were almost touching. She soon realised how close her face was to the cat faunus and sat up, blushing once more as she looked down at the equally flustered girl below.

That is until a series of memories, too quick to properly make out, flashed through her head. The blonde’s eyes glazed over, the blush disappeared and her expression turned from joyful to a far away look as quick as the memories had come. 

A vision of an airship and a young girl with crimson eyes and a red hooded cloak stood in front of her, anger and sadness etched onto her face. They were arguing about something. But what were they arguing about? Who was this girl? Why is she blurred out? Why did she matter so much? Another memory surfaced, one where they were in a forest and the girl from before ripped out a large, sharp feather from her thigh. Again, the girl or whoever it was, was blurred, like the memory of this person wasn’t clear enough for Yang to see. The only thing she could make out were red eyes on a blurry face.  
She looked angry but sure of herself. It changed again and again, each image, each memory had something similar about them. The girl with silver or red eyes in every single one of them. Including one that shocked the blonde to the point where her eyes landed on the girl still below her. The same girl that was calling out to her.

She’d had a similar vision before. Where Blake was standing in a corner, trying not to get struck by incoming rage-filled fists. Why were they full of rage? Why was she angry? It didn’t make sense but then again, the memory that had surfaced explained some of the anger she had for the cat faunus in the other memory. 

It was a memory of betrayal. Her own partner had betrayed them, taken the girl with the red cloak. But for what reason? It made her angry. Why was this strange girl important? Especially for it to warrant anger. Did she care about this girl? Why had Blake taken the girl? What was it all for? Did it have anything to do with them both being in Atlas instead of Vale. Nothing made sense and only created more questions she wanted answers to.  
The memories ended as quickly as they’d come but the new questions still swirled around in her head. Yang finally began to come back to herself. The voice of her partner getting louder and sounding worried and panicked.

“....Ang….Yang! Come back to me! Yang!” Blake shouted one last time, the blonde’s glazed crimson clearing up to a shimmering lighter red. 

“Blake… I…I have to go…” Yang said, clearly hurt by what she’d remembered. She quickly got off the cat faunus, stood and promptly ran out of the training arena. 

“Yang! Wait!” Blake called out, as fruitless as it was. She stood as abruptly as Yang had but didn’t move any more than that, staying stock still as she watched her partner run out of the room. 

What in Remnant just happened? Why did Yang just run off? She was obviously remembering something but what was it? Something upsetting. Very upsetting. 

Sighing deeply, Blake finally moved, slowly walking out of the training arena and up to her dorm room.  
As she walked the hall towards her room, she noticed someone standing outside the door.  
Walking closer, they turned at the right moment and noticed her. 

“Miss Belladonna, General Ironwood has a new mission for you.” The man said, obviously highly ranked in the Military, holding a Manila folder in one hand and stretching the other towards Blake.

“What is it?” The cat faunus replied, shaking the man’s hand. 

“Just a scouting mission. You are required to scout out a large part of Greenwich Forest. Word has spread that there are several types of Grimm moving out of the area, reportedly travelling North. We want to know how many and why. You leave tomorrow morning. An airship will drop you off at the border.” The military man explained, handing her the folder.

“Who’s been reporting these sightings?” She inquired, looking through the folder at the reports.

“I assume you know of a man named Qrow Branwen?”

“Yes. I do. He’s Ruby Rose’s father and Yang’s Uncle.” She responded, looking up from reading a file. “Why can’t he scout the area like he has been?” Came her next question, becoming sceptical of the man in front of her.

“He cannot. He has other… matters to attend to that requires his immediate attention.” The man said matter-of-factor before promptly leaving. 

Blake stared after him, shrugged her shoulders and finally entered her dorm room. She expected Yang to be in there but was disappointed to find she wasn’t and probably wouldn’t be coming back any time soon. 

She sighed as she threw the folder onto the desk and sat down on the chair, now reading through the mission details and who would be accompanying her.  
Scanning the page, the cat Faunus came across the mission participants, her heart skipping and then clenching in pain when she saw that it would be Yang joining her.

Her partner wasn’t ready. She still had a ways to go and what if...what if she had a flashback or something in the middle of a fight? It’d most definitely get her killed.  
But then again, it was only a scouting mission, strictly stating to only kill any Grimm if they attacked first and to only allow Yang to watch.  
As unfair as that was, it made a lot of sense but still didn’t help Blake’s anxiousness.

After reading through the rest of the folder, she sent off a scroll message to Yang, telling her they both had a mission tomorrow and that they needed to prepare.  
No reply came, even after several hours of waiting for one. 

Yang didn't go back to the dorm room to sleep that night, opting to sleep in a spare room after being given permission from Ironwood.  
Blake lay awake most of the night, wondering what the blonde had remembered and why she’d just taken off like she had. 

The faunus had a feeling of what it was but couldn’t accept that they would need to go through it all again. She knew, with absolute certainty, that her partner had remembered her betraying her team.  
She also knew that it was going to be a difficult conversation. Their continued friendship would depend on whether or not Yang would believe her and see past everything that had happened. 

At the rate the blonde was regaining her memories, even with the help of the reversed memory dust, the possibility of her remembering the rest was highly unlikely. That meant Yang would probably never forgive her. Only time would tell.

***

After Yang had ran out of the training arena, she’d gone for a stroll around the academy, mulling over the memories she’d seen. She had so many questions and understood that only two or three people could answer them. The obvious one was Blake but the blonde really didn’t want to talk to her right now. Then there was Winter Schnee.  
Yang didn’t and probably would never trust that woman even if she fell over her backwards. She just didn’t like the woman, especially after being lied to.  
That only left Ironwood. He seemed to genuinely care about her well being and seemed to want her to remember everything. Still, he was hiding things from her and she didn’t like it. His reasoning was always the same though; that if he answered her questions and gave her the information she wanted, she could be at risk of remembering too much at once.  
He had told her that it would be catastrophic to her mental state and cause her to become a shell, a vegetable.

The blonde didn’t believe it one bit but went along with it anyway. Now though, she needed answers on whether she could trust her partner or not.  
So, she altered her course and made her way to the General’s office.

***

“Miss Xiao-Long, what can I do for you?” General Ironwood inquired from behind his desk.

“Um… I think...I think Blake is hiding something from me. I think you all are.” Yang said, only explaining a part of what she needed to. She shuffled uncomfortably on the spot by the door, not sure if she should enter the office proper.

“I don’t understand, what would we be hiding Miss Xiao-Long?” The General replied, looking up from his scroll-tablet.

“I keep getting flashbacks of some sort. Me and Blake, we’re in a strange looking training arena. Well, I think it's a training arena. Anyway, I feel so angry in this memory, I’m wanting to hurt her but I don’t want to at the same time. She’s shouting, more like crying something to me. I think Blake betrayed me. Betrayed her friends and family. I don’t know, please tell me I’m wrong.” Yang finally explained, her words coming out much faster than she wanted them to.

Ironwood simply stared at the blonde in shock before clearing his throat, looking at his scroll-tablet again, pressing a few buttons and opening a file.

“She didn’t betray you. Or anyone. With what she did, she had to do it or face the deaths of her family and dearest friends. I suppose I have a lot of explaining to do before I show you a few videos and voice recordings.” The General said, detaching the scroll-tablet from his desk and standing up. He walked over to the door on the left, opened it and looked back to Yang, gesturing for her to follow. 

“You want answers. Well, I am offering to give them to you. All of them.”

The blonde hesitated for a moment, trying to think things through. Was the General finally going to give her some answers? She was going to get answers, even if it meant staying awake all day and all night. Steeling herself, Yang moved towards the door and entered, Ironwood closing it behind them. 

They made their way to a set of comfortable armchairs beside a roaring fire, taking the seats a moment later. Yang took her scroll out and put it on silent. She really didn’t want any distractions. All she wanted was answers. And now, she was finally going to get them.

General Ironwood placed his scroll-tablet on the small coffee table, cleared his throat and finally began to explain everything Tang had been missing.  
Things about Beacon. Several things. Her team for one and her cousin for another. As the General told her about them, he brought up photographs of each of them. Yang stared intently at the photo of a girl in a red hooded cloak called Ruby, apparently her cousin.

After explaining about Beacon, Ironwood finally got onto telling her about Jacques Schnee and his illegal research facility and what he had been doing there. Yang felt anger boil up within her veins until he quickly stated that Jacques Schnee was dead; murdered at the hands of Ruby. 

Then, after so many questions being bounced around the room with Ironwood answering them in full detail, they finally got onto the subject of Blake. How the cat faunus had seemingly betrayed her team, her friends. How she had taken Ruby and how a bill faunus called Adam Taurus had taken Yang’s arm. 

At first, Yang was angry. Very angry. Just like in the memory, she wanted to hurt Blake but she didn’t at the same time.  
Her anger dissipated when Ironwood finally told her Blake didn’t have a choice in what she did.  
He showed her the videos and voice recordings of the faunus’ interrogation sessions. All of them with Winter Schnee. 

What surprised the blonde the most, was the first video recording. Blake had a busted or broken nose and Winter was actually being nice. No wonder Blake had requested to only speak with the Schnee woman.

Everything Blake said, it shocked Yang and made her angry and then sad and even confused.  
Why didn’t she just… tell someone what was going on before it happened. Was Blake that faithless in her team’s combat abilities? No, it wasn't that. It was the fact Blake had already come to care about her teammates even after such a short time. 

All of a sudden, Yang felt so disgusted with herself. Why didn’t she just let Blake explain what had happened instead of trying to knock her out or kill her.

Ironwood must have understood the look in the eyes for he explained they both agreed to speak another time. He then finally told her how she ended up in the hospital.  
What Ruby was and that she’d half-transformed into a Grimm. That Ruby had not only injured the blonde but injured their other teammate, Weiss.  
Apparently, Weiss was still in the hospital in a coma.

Yang had immediately requested to see Weiss and Ironwood said it wouldn’t be a good idea at that moment. For one it was very late and two, he didn’t think Yang was ready to see another teammate in the flesh yet.  
So, she left it at that and thanked the General for all of the answers he’d given her.

Instead of making her way back to her shared dorm room, she asked to sleep in a different room for the night so she could process everything. And mainly, just in case she had a nightmare again.  
Ironwood agreed and off she went, falling into a new bed in a spare room she didn’t know existed.  
She soon fell asleep, her dreams full of memories of the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that’s chapter 11. It actually took me like, three months to write it so please have mercy. Constructive criticism is still welcome though.  
> Hope you all enjoyed and I’ll see you all when I can update again. Bye for now. :)


	12. Greenwich Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still with Blake and Yang, the pair are on their mission. They find the previously reported large group of Grimm but they also find something else in the forest. Something terrifying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again my amazingly awesome readers! Thought I'd give you another update just five days after the last one. On this one we're still with Blake and Yang then we'll be time skipping a few months so their timeline fits with Weiss and Ruby's in chapter 13. Which by the way has already been written and oh boy have I got something in store for you all.   
> And if you’ve all noticed, I’ve changed the rating to Explicit.  
> Now without further ado, I give you chapter 12! Hope you all enjoy!

Border of Greenwich Forest

The airship flight to the edge of the forest had taken much longer than it should have. For a start, the engines wouldn’t start and then when it did, it only stalled and had to be done all over again. It wasn’t just that though.  
Yang had woken up late and ended up getting to the airship port much later than her partner. That really didn’t matter though since the ship’s engine wouldn’t start.

Blake had been waiting indoors for Yang for quite awhile and when she did finally turn up, the blonde didn’t speak to the cat faunus. She didn’t even look at her, simply sitting down and staying silent whilst they waited. 

Now after an hour of waiting for the engines to warm up, they were finally standing on the edge of Greenwich Forest, staring into the vast expanse of trees.

Blake stepped forward but before she could take another step, something or rather someone, grabbed her hand. She looked back and saw that Yang had a guilty but sad expression on her face. She still wasn’t quite looking at Blake, just looking past her into the forest.

“Yang? What’s wrong?” Blake said, concerned. She stepped towards the blonde and was surprised to find herself in her partner’s arms a second later.

“I know what you did at Beacon.”  
Blake froze at the unexpected words but soon relaxed again after hearing the next sentences. “And...I know it wasn’t your fault or your choice. I just wanted to tell you, I’m sorry what happened to you and I forgive you.”  
The blonde’s tone of voice was soft and sincere. She held onto Blake a little tighter, reassuring her partner that everything was going to be okay and that she did indeed forgive her.

A few minutes later and they separated, finally setting off into the forest in search of the horde of Grimm, Yang swearing she saw a slight dusting of pink on her partner’s cheeks.

***

North of Greenwich Forest- 4:30pm

Hours after setting off for the scouting mission, Yang and Blake traipsed through the snowy forest, searching for the large number of Grimm that had reportedly moved through it. They’d found nothing for the first two hours, the trails often running cold because of the latest snowfall the previous night. 

Fortunately, all they had to do was keep travelling North and soon enough, they stumbled across a medium sized group of the chaotic creatures.

“Gods, there’s so many Grimm gathered here. What’s going on?” Yang whispered, crouching low next to Blake on a tree branch.

“Question is, why have they all stopped? Last time I checked, Grimm don’t need to rest and they certainly don’t need to eat, sleep or relieve themselves.” Blake said, also whispering and watching the Grimm cautiously. 

“Hmm.” The blonde agreed but didn’t say anything more in the matter.

The black and yellow pair watched the creatures attentively, waiting for them to make a move of some kind.   
As another hour passed, more Grimm had arrived in the area, also stopping and waiting for something. A few split off from the large group, looking as though they were beginning to patrol the area but most stayed where they were. 

It astonished the partners still hiding in the tree; these chaotic creatures were beginning to gain a sense of caution and intelligence. It was amazing but it was something to worry about. 

No more Grimm turned up after that but they were still waiting around. Blake and Yang were ready to call it quits when a very strange-looking creature emerged from the Northern side of the trees. There wasn’t just one however, there were two others following close behind. They were vastly different to each other and the Grimm between the trees.

The two others were humanoid in size and shape, their faces and body covered in the white armour of other Grimm but the markings were either black or a deep purple. Their eyes weren’t as a normal Grimm either. Instead of their eyes being entirely red, they were black at the edges and only red in the middle. One of them looked to have horns whilst the other had no other traits to it.   
Strangely enough, both seemed to have more human or faunus traits than anyone would have thought possible.  
The other strange creature was similar to those two but still very different. It’s white bone mask was in the shape of a Nevermore, it’s hands were void of white bone and were human-like but it’s feet were more like a bird’s. The talons on its feet were as sharp as an Apathy’s clawed hands.

The most concerning part of the creature was that it had a pair of pitch black wings attached to its back, its body having small elements of white bone. It’s body was midnight black and had feather scattered over it.  
They were the strangest beings Blake and Yang had ever seen yet they reminded the cat faunus of someone.   
Someone that would eventually turn into a Grimm. 

“We need to get out of here and report those creatures to General Ironwood. We’d have no chance against this many Grimm or those creatures if they were to notice us.” Blake whispered to Yang, taking her scroll out and taking a few photos and a short video of the Grimm and strange creatures below.

“Agreed. Problem is, how do we get out of here without them seeing us? If you haven’t noticed, we’re surrounded by Grimm below us.” The blonde whispered back, looking down at the chaotic beasts below.

“I don’t know. Maybe we could wait them out.” Blake suggested and then quietly sighed, knowing it wasn’t a very good plan.

“Sure, because we haven’t been waiting here for the last few hours anyway.” Yang said sarcastically then changed the subject. “How many Grimm have you counted by the way?”

“One too many. It’s not looking good for wherever they’re going.” Blake quietly replied, taking another short video.  
Then she noticed something that made her blood run cold. 

The humanoid creature with horns was looking right at the both of them, staring them down and daring them to move from the tree.

“Yang. Whatever you do. Don’t. Move.” The cat faunus warned, staring back at the creature. Well, more like keeping an eye on it. 

“What? Why?” The blonde stupidly asked.

“Because we’ve been seen by one of those creatures. Stay still and shut up.” She whispered back, starting to become annoyed.

The faunus realised something then, something very critical that warranted more concern. Where the fuck was the bird/humanoid creature?

Her answer came in the form of a black blur flying towards them from behind with its talons extended. It missed Blake by millimetres, catching Yang on both shoulders and making her fall out of the tree. 

“Yang!” Blake exclaimed, watching as her partner fell to the ground far below. 

Fortunately, the bird/humanoid creature didn’t seem to want Yang dead as it swooped down and caught her before she hit the solid ground. It placed her on the floor and moved over her so they were face to face. The creature stared into Yang’s eyes, searching for something. 

The blonde stayed as still as possible and stared right back. She felt something burst in her chest. Fear. But not just fear. Anger and hatred were there too. It must have shone through her crimson eyes as the creature tilted its head before straightening and walking away. 

Yang stayed where she lay on the ground, dumbfounded that the creature hadn’t tried to kill her.   
The creature stopped half way back to its original position, turned back around to face the blonde and spoke in a gravelly, barely understandable voice.  
“Leave.”  
It turned back around and off it went, the Grimm around it starting to follow it through the forest. 

Just as the last of the Grimm disappeared into the trees, Blake jumped down from the tree and hurried over to her partner.

“Yang! Yang are you okay? Did it hurt you?” She asked, concern colouring her tone.

“N-no. I’m fine. It just- it just stared me down. Like-like it was looking for something.” Yang stuttered out, slowly getting to her feet. “We should probably go, before anymore Grimm show up or those creatures come back.” She suggested after regaining her composure.

“Agreed.” Blake replied, more than a little shaken.

With that, the bumblebee pair called in an airship to their location, thinking about what had happened the entire time they waited and even when they were heading back to the Academy. It was something they couldn’t stop thinking about.

***

A few days later

It was early morning and Yang awoke with a start, a nightmare of what happened in the forest plaguing her waking and sleeping hours. They’d reported everything they could back to Ironwood and gave him the photographs and video footage of the creatures as well as statistics. They were both so shaken they hadn’t left anything out. Now it was just a matter of investigating where the Grimm were going and what the creatures were and if they were related to Reapers in any way possible.

No one had seen a transformed Reaper for centuries, maybe longer. So no one, not even Ironwood could confirm the creatures to be Reapers or not. The only two people that could, were missing. 

Shaking her head of the thoughts, Yang pulled back the covers, sat up and finally got out of bed, not noticing that Blake wasn’t there.   
She stretched her body out, hearing and feeling satisfying cracks and pops of joints from her back and shoulders.  
After that, the blonde gathered her shower supplies from a drawer as quietly as possible, just in case she woke Blake, who she still hadn’t noticed wasn’t there.

About to head to the shower, she stopped and turned around, heading back to a drawer to find some underwear. To think she almost forgot to take underwear with her. That’s when she finally saw her partner wasn’t in her bed nor was she anywhere in the dorm room or the bathroom.

She shrugged her shoulders and a thought occurred to her. If Blake wasn’t in the room, that meant she could just strip off here, right? But, what if Blake came back in and saw her partially undressed? Or Gods forbid, completely naked?

A shudder ran down her spine at the thought of being caught by her partner stripping off in the middle of the dorm room.   
Her eyes widened when she realised something. It was like she wanted to get caught by her partner. She shook her head vigorously and just opted to undress in the bathroom, pushing the not unpleasant thought into the back of her mind.

After her shower, she dressed and brushed her hair out. Well, more like she fought with her wild, wet hair with a comb that would barely go through her golden mop.   
She gave up after some time and just put it up in a messy, soggy ponytail, exiting the bathroom just as Blake entered the dorm room.

Upon seeing her partner, the intrusive but strangely pleasant thought from before resurfaced, colouring her cheeks a light pink.   
A throat cleared in the room and she soon realised she’d been staring. 

“Err...hi Blake…” Yang said, trying not to sound awkward but failing miserably. 

“Good morning. What’s wrong with you?” Came the amused but intrigued reply. 

“N-nothing. I’m fine. What have you got there?” Yang responded, changing the subject as fast as she could without wanting to sound suspicious.

That failed too as Blake looked at her sceptically before speaking. “I brought breakfast. Well, technically it’s lunch.”

“Lunch? What time is it?” Yang asked no one in particular, walking over to her bunk and climbing up to grab her scroll. 

As she did this, she didn’t notice Blake staring at her behind. She looked back as she unlocked her scroll and got back onto the floor.   
The blonde could just make out a pink tint to her partner’s cheeks. Well, she could swear she did. That or she was going insane.

“You should’ve woken me up earlier. It’s well past noon. Uuuugh.” Yang moaned, throwing her scroll on the desk beside the bunks.

Blake cleared her throat before replying. “Well I thought you could do with a lie in for once. We’re not expected to go on any missions any time soon. And it’s not like we’re going to be seeing anyone until later on.”

Yang grumbled something under her breath before sitting down on the edge of her partner’s bed, waiting for the food to be dished out. Other than that, she didn’t say anything else.

The cat faunus understood the sudden silence and unpacked the food, giving Yang a full cooked Valean breakfast. Something they’d requested that Ironwood get in just for the blonde. Blake had decided on a bowl of cereal and orange juice, much less than she usually had for breakfast. Or for lunch for that matter.

Yang didn’t say a word as she knew there was something going on. They were seeing someone later that day and it had them both nervous. Blake quite a bit more than Yang, even though the faunus had seen this person before.

When they finished their breakfast/lunch, they got into searching up sightings and reports of Ruby. Apparently, she’d gone missing and the last major report of her was when four huntsmen were brutally murdered. All of the other reports Yang had found a while back, they were either false or not confirmed.   
The black and yellow duo spent a couple of hours on their secret project to find their teammate, only packing up when it was time to see the person they’d been waiting to see all day.

The pair waited a few moments longer and then set off to Atlas’ Private Hospital.   
Yang was finally going to visit their other teammate, Weiss. Ironwood had told the blonde about Weiss, how she’d gotten gravely injured and had been in a coma since. Apparently, they wouldn’t be able to tell if and when Weiss was going to wake up as something was blocking them from getting valuable information from her neurological tests. 

The airship ride was a quiet one, neither of them wanting to start a conversation or disturb the peace they would have until they’d enter Weiss’ hospital room where machines hummed and beeped noisily, either keeping the girl alive or making sure she was still alive.

The airship landed with a small thud on the roof of the hospital, opening its doors for Yang and Blake to depart. Winter Schnee was waiting for them by the doors going into the hospital.  
Silently, they walked shoulder to shoulder, dreading what they’ll see.

“Miss Belladonna, Miss Xiao-Long. It’s good to see you again. General Ironwood told me of you wanting to visit Weiss.” The Specialist greeted, nodding her head once.

“Yes, we do. Yang also wants to see if she’ll remember anything about Weiss.” Blake replied before Yang could say anything.

“Alright, follow me. It isn’t far.” Came the reply and the bumblebee pair quietly followed behind the older woman.

Considering the hospital room was close to the roof, it still felt like an hour or two had passed by the time they made it.  
All three women stood in front of the door for a moment before Winter finally took the handle and pushed it open, allowing Yang to enter first.

At last, she was seeing her other teammate that she could barely remember. Wires and cables came from her body, travelling to a few noisy machines in the room. Weiss’ skin was deathly pale, her cheekbones sticking out slightly. Her collarbones were too and her eyes looked sunken and bruised.  
On the whole, Weiss still looked awful but at least she wasn’t in any pain. 

As Yang looked Weiss over, she felt the prickle of tears in her eyes as memories surfaced. There weren’t many of the two of them but the ones that were there, were either sad, happy or funny.   
At least the blonde now knew where her prosthetic arm came from. Weiss had bought it and had it custom made.  
She’d helped Weiss defy her father and the white-haired girl had made a pun so awful, Yang couldn’t help but chuckle at the memory. 

There were much sadder memories she’d prefer not to remember but she supposed they were necessary and explained the bond between the two of them. Seeing Weiss had helped to bring back memories and Yang was happy for it but the state her teammate was in, it hurt the blonde and caused the tears she’d been holding back to put freely down her face.

She felt someone touch her shoulder but knowing who it was, she leaned into it and both herself and Blake silently watched over their white-haired teammate. The door clicked shut behind them but they paid it no mind.

An hour later and Yang was still in Weiss’ room, now sitting down on a rock solid chair. Blake had gone to the hospital’s cafeteria to grab some coffee for them both. The blonde was starting to doze off when a blaring noise awoke her, making her jump out of her seat like a scared cat.

The noise was coming from one of the machines hooked up to Weiss. What did it mean? Yang looked at the heart monitor and saw that Weiss’ heart rate had skyrocketed. The blonde looked to Weiss and her heart stopped. Black blood leaked from the comatose girl’s nose and ears as she began to violently shake.

In an instant, a doctor and a few nurses rushed in, one of them urgently pushing Yang out of the door and quickly getting to work on stabilising Weiss.

The last thing the blonde saw was the doctor starting chest compressions while a nurse attached pressed buttons on a machine. As quickly as Weiss’ heart rate had gone up, it had flatlined just as fast. One of the nurses noticed Yang watching and rushed over, giving the blonde a sad smile before closing the door.

“Yang? What’s going on? Why are you out here?” Came Blake’s voice from just a few meters down the hall.

The blonde looked to her partner and back to the door, wishing she didn’t have to answer the question. But she knew she had to.   
“Weiss...she...her heart…stopped.” Was all she could get out, her throat and mouth becoming dry, a lump forming in her throat. 

“What?” Blake replied in disbelief, going pale at the realisation. Tears started to well up in her ears as she thought of the worst case scenario.  
What if the doctor and nurses couldn’t bring her back? What if Weiss died today? What would that do to Ruby if she ever found out?  
No! She couldn’t think like that. She had to have faith in the doctor. That he could bring her back.

Just as that though passed through her mind, the door opened and the doctor stepped out.   
“Is Miss Schnee here?” He said, looking around the hall.

“No, she had to head back to the Academy. She allowed us to stay here for as long as we wanted to. Is Weiss okay? What happened?” Blake said, as calmly as she could. A small amount of desperation still entered her voice and the look on her face said everything the doctor needed to know.

“She is fine now. For some unknown reason, her heart rate spiked and caused her to go into cardiac arrest. We resuscitated her and she’s now stable but we will monitor her much more closely just in case.” The doctor responded, his voice soft and comforting.

“What about the black blood coming from her nose and ears?” Yang piped up in worry.

“Ah, yes. We have no idea. One of the nurses has taken a sample and it will be sent to the lab for testing. Other than that, it’s something we have no idea about.” Came the next reply as the nurses began to file out of the room.  
“Miss Schnee will be informed of this. For now, I suggest both of you go home and relax. It isn’t healthy to stick around for long periods of time in a hospital.” He said before walking off down the hall.

Yang carefully walked back into the room, looking over Weiss once more, seeing that she was somehow even more pale than before. How was that even possible? She had no clue but it seemed the doctor was right. They needed to go home and get something to eat. Maybe even sleep. 

With that, the blonde turned and left the room, closing the door as quietly as she could and walked down the hall towards the stairs. Thankfully, Winter had requested the airship stay where it was until they were ready to go back to the academy. 

The ride back was just as silent as the ride there, neither of them wanting to say anything in case reality caught up with them. They remained that way for the rest of the night, only speaking when they wished each other goodnight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that wraps chapter 12 up. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! This one was so easy to write I was quite surprised when I had it done within two days with chapter 13 right behind it. That won’t be getting posted until next week and in the meantime I can write chapter 14 and maybe even 15 if I don’t draw any blanks or anything.  
> Anywhoooo, I bid you all adieu and I will see you next time I update.


	13. The Reaper and The Snowflake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens when a certain Reaper runs away after thinking she’s hurt her precious Snowflake after waking up? Especially when they both harbour feelings for each other.  
> Read to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeyyooooooo again!  
> Not long ago that I updated is it? Ahhhh welllll.   
> I got impatient and you all may end up with chapters 14/15/16 in the next two weeks as well because once I’ve written a chapter, I can’t seem to stop myself from posting it xD
> 
> Anyways! As you have probably noticed, the rating of this story has now been placed as Explicit. You’ll find out that exact reason as you read. There is a warning in place just in case some of you are uncomfortable with what’s in this chapter.
> 
> I also have a big, massive, humongous THANK YOU to SerratedGem833 for writing the parts of the chapter I’m not going to say about until the end authors notes!  
> Hope you all enjoy!

At the Port

Everyone that had been worried Weiss would never wake up were overjoyed when they heard the news that she had. Blake and Yang being two of three people that were glad she was going to be okay. They’d even visited her a few days before she’d awoken and never expected anything to happen. 

Winter had informed them of not just Weiss waking up but they’d had another visitor. Ruby had come to see the white-haired girl and for some reason, without a weapon or much emotion. Until she’d seen her partner hooked up to everything with a tube down her throat.  
After helping Weiss for a while, Ruby had apparently just vanished again with no new reports or sightings of her. 

Then two weeks after Weiss woke up, Blake and Yang were told not to visit and were put on missions that would keep them away. They didn't need to know the truth, not yet.   
The bumblebee pair had protested against it but ultimately, they couldn’t do anything about it. 

A few months on and they were being told they would be going to a town called the Port of Arden in the North East of Solitas. It was a big town, one of the biggest outside the kingdoms and apparently one of the safest to live in. But now it apparently wasn’t.

The General had received reports of a massive horde of Grimm travelling towards the town. He’d sent a few troops but not many, mainly scouts to see if the reports coming in were true. They’d reported back that the town would need a lot of help. So, Yang, Blake and Winter along with more troops and a few other huntsmen were drafted to the North Eastern town and all they’d been doing since getting there was waiting around or patrolling the small amount of forest. 

The days went by quite quickly and they heard nothing. No Grimm horde tried to attack the town nor were there any sightings of them.  
They’d been there a week and the only news they’d gotten was that the Grimm Horde was still deep in the forest. 

Two weeks and there was still nothing. Winter decided to send Yang, Blake and a few troops back to Atlas. The bumblebee pair were just about finished packing up when a soldier barged into their assigned room.

“Ma’am’s, Winter urgently needs you at the hospital. Now.” They said between breaths, evidently having run there. 

“Why? Has something happened?” Yang questioned, standing up abruptly with Blake not far behind.

“It’s about her sister, Weiss Schnee.” He replied and before he knew it, he was being barged out of the way by two young women who were running full pelt down the halls.

The duo didn’t stop once for breath until they were in a taxi. Thankfully, there wasn’t much traffic and they whizzed through the streets towards the hospital after telling the driver to step on it.   
Once they arrived, it looked like nothing had happened until they saw the white hair of their teammate waiting outside the hospital’s main entrance. They hurried over to her immediately upon spotting her, after paying the taxi driver.

“Weiss? What are you doing here? Thought you were in Atlas?” Blake asked, surprise evident on her face.

“Has something happened back in Atlas or something?” Yang butted in, placing a gentle hand on Weiss’ shoulder.

“No, Atlas is fine. It’s… I received a letter from Ruby yesterday. She said she was coming here and-“ Weiss started but was interrupted.

“Ruby? Ruby’s here? But why are you here?” Yang said, butting in again.

“Because I realised Winter was here about to exterminate a group of Grimm. I didn’t know you two were here though.” The white-haired girl said, looking at the other two girls suspiciously.

“Yeah, about that. We were kinda told not to tell you. Or anyone that we were coming here. So, is Ruby here?” Blake finally piped up, looking around the hospital grounds for the wolf faunus.

“Yes, she’s here. In the Port.” Came the cryptic reply.

“Sooo where is she then?” Blake asked again, starting to get a little frustrated.

“She’s...kind of...in this hospital….in a coma.” Weiss stuttered out, suddenly nervous. 

“What? Is she okay? What happened to her? Do you know what’s wrong with her?” Blake questioned, concern etched into every question.

“She’s stable now. She was about to be killed by the biggest Deathstalker I’ve ever seen. It looked like she’d taken a few hits beforehand too. If-if I hadn’t arrived on time or seen her on that cliff, she would’ve been k-killed.” Weiss said, starting to choke up from just the thought of her partner dying on that cliff.

“Heeey. It's alright. She’s going to be okay. She’s stable right? She’s in a hospital and they’ll help her.” Yang said, dropping her tone to a gentle one and taking the smaller girl into her arms in a hug.

As Weiss cried, Yang held her with Blake soon joining in. They received a few stares from people around them but they didn’t care. All that mattered right then was their white haired teammate.  
They parted from the embrace, Weiss wiping her eyes and cheeks with a handkerchief she pulled out of nowhere.

“Thank you.” She said in a soft voice, a weak smile pulling at her lips.

Before Blake or Yang could respond, Winter’s voice sounded out through the main entrance down the hall. “Girls!”  
She was running, which no one had actually ever seen her do outside of battle. The older Schnee came to a screeching halt in front of the three younger girls, breathing heavily and trying to say something.

“Winter, what’s wrong? Has something happened to Ruby?” Weiss questioned, panic rising in her chest. 

“She’s...woken...up…” Winter managed to get out before turning around and running back down the hall with Weiss, Blake and Yang hot on her heels.

Four sets of feet thumped noisily against the stairs as they climbed as quickly as possible, reaching the floor Ruby was on faster than the elevator could.   
They slowed down in the busy hall, going to a jog towards Ruby’s room with Winter leading the way. 

As they drew closer, they heard it. Ruby was shouting while other people tried to placate her.  
“Stay away from me! Where’s Weiss!? I wanna know where Weiss is!? What have you done with her!? What do you want with me!? Are you going to do things to me again!? Don’t touch me! Stay away!” 

“Miss Rose, we aren’t going to do anything to you. Miss Schnee is with her older sister right now. Please, we just want to help you. You were gravely injured by a Deathstalker and you were brought in practically on death's door. Let us help you.” A doctor said in a gentle tone as Yang, Blake, Weiss and Winter entered the room. 

“No! Where’s Weiss? I want to see her! Let me see her! Stay away from me!” Ruby shouted out again, backing away into a corner.   
The people in the room moved forwards, cornering the wolf faunus who bared her teeth with her fluffy ears flattening against her head and her tail standing on end in a defensive manner. “Stay. Away!” The scared faunus bellowed as they drew closer, swiping at them with her claws.

“Miss Rose-“ the doctor began again only to be interrupted by Weiss pushing through and standing in front of Ruby. 

“Stop! Back away, you’re scaring her!” Weiss shouted, facing the doctor and the security guards.   
They didn’t listen and stayed where they were, the security guards reaching for their batons.  
Ruby’s facial expression had changed from angry and scared to shocked and sad. It was like she never thought Weiss would want to see her again after what had happened, after what she’d done to her partner. But here she was, standing defensively in front of her. 

Fortunately, Winter stepped forwards and intervened before anything else could happen.   
“You ought to back away gentlemen. Miss Rose does not take kindly to being cornered. Now, slowly back away and get out.” She ordered, the men looking behind them and seeing that it was the Specialist, they obeyed the given order.

With that, Weiss turned on her heel and threw her arms around the wolf faunus’ neck, pulling her into a close embrace. 

“W-Weiss…?” Ruby whispered, surprised that her partner was now hugging her. She froze up and didn’t return the embrace.

“I- I thought y-you were going to d-die. I s-saw you o-on the cliff. The D-Deathstalker. It was g-going to kill you.” Weiss cried, tears rolling down her cheeks again as she held onto her partner tightly.

“Weiss, I’m okay.” The young faunus said into the white-haired girl’s ear, her tone soft and gentle, almost a whisper but it sounded sad and broken. She finally put her own arms around her partner and leaned her head against her shoulder. 

Meanwhile, Yang, Blake and Winter hung back, watching the scene before them. As much as Yang wanted to embrace her cousin, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She still couldn’t remember much of Ruby and therefore, didn’t think she had a connection with her.  
Blake hung back because of how Ruby might react to her being there. She didn’t think Ruby knew the truth of her betrayal and didn’t want to aggravate the younger faunus.   
Winter hung back because she didn’t really know Ruby all that much, apart from the fact that she was a murderer by no fault of her own. 

“Weiss, I’m truly okay now. I promise but, you shouldn’t be here.” Ruby said just as quietly as before, pulling away from the hug and looking Weiss in the eyes.

“Wha-what? What do you mean?” Weiss responded, slightly surprised by the reply.

“I’m sorry but you should’ve just left me.” Ruby’s voice became quieter at that, her eyes flickering to the right.

“Left you? Left you to what? Die?” Weiss questioned, her mind starting to fuzz over as anger began to envelop her heart. Her voice raising a few octaves from the shock of spoken words.

“Yes.” Was all Ruby said in reply as she looked down at the floor in shame from the admission.

Yang attempted to say something but didn’t after Winter raised her hand at her and shook her head that she shouldn’t interrupt.

“Are you- are you serious right now? Are you actually serious? Why the fuck would I just leave you to die?” Weiss questioned, dumbfoundedness the only thing she felt until a surprising amount of anger entered her heart fully. 

Ruby looked at the white-haired girl, her eyes widening at what she saw. Her partner’s eyes slowly turned from glacial blue to blood red whilst a small amount of black veins sprouted just under her eyes. The young faunus took a tentative step forward, reaching out slowly.  
“Weiss? What’s going on? Why are your eyes like that?” 

“Don’t change the subject Ruby! Answer me! Why would you want me to leave you to die!?” Weiss screamed again and this time, Winter stepped forwards, about to intervene.

“Winter! Don’t!” Weiss yelled in warning, her head spinning round towards where her sister was.  
The older Schnee stopped in her tracts at her sister’s eyes. She would never be able to get used to it. She heard Yang and Blake gasp in unison but they didn’t say anything. 

The younger Schnee turned back to the wolf faunus, her anger flaring once more as Ruby still refused to answer the question. Her ears flattened in a different manner whilst her tail subconsciously tucked itself between her legs.  
“Answer me Ruby!” The ex-heiress yelled, grabbing the younger girl by the collar of her hospital gown. 

It seemed that was the last straw for Ruby as she lost her own temper and forcibly pushed her partner away from herself, making her fall to the floor.   
“Because I don’t want to hurt anyone again! I don’t want to be a burden anymore! Because I don’t want to hurt you or Yang or Blake or anyone! I accepted my death on that cliff and I only listened to you to move because I had a shred of hope but with everyone treating me like a wild animal since I woke up I may as well just go back to the cliff and jump off of it!” Ruby screamed, her voice becoming louder and louder as she ranted, causing Weiss and everyone in the room to look at her in shock.

The white-haired girl’s eyes faded back to blue, her anger completely gone at her partner’s heart breaking words. The young wolf faunus seemed to realise what she’d done as tears welled up in her partner’s eyes once more. She backed away, a look of fear on her face as she looked around at the others in the room and back at Weiss.

“Weiss… I...I’m sorry…” she said before sluggishly activating her semblance and bursting through one of the windows, the glass shattering and spraying everywhere. 

Weiss jumped up to try and stop her, obviously failing to do so. “Ruuuuby!” She cried out as she saw her partner flying through the air using her semblance.   
Before anyone could stop her, Weiss bolted out of the room, running full pelt down the halls and down the stairs to the main entrance. She didn’t stop running until she was at the edge of the town, breathing much more heavily than before.

Leaning up against a high fence and trying to catch her breath, she couldn’t help the tears that blurred her vision again and she couldn’t stop them from falling.   
She didn’t mean to lose her temper with Ruby like that. She didn’t intend for Ruby to see her in her condition but she just couldn’t help it. It was like something had taken over her rational thoughts and feelings. Or maybe it was something taking over her heart and soul. She didn’t know, it was so confusing and frustrating! 

Why was this happening to her!? What had she done to deserve this suffering!? Why did Ruby want to die so much!? Why, why, why, why, whyyy!?

With everything going on, from before the facility to getting injured by Ruby and from waking up from a coma to saving Ruby’s life, Weiss felt like she was going insane. Especially because of whatever was going on with her.   
The finding of the journal in her father’s desk didn’t give any answers because of it being in the Old Atlesian language, plus Winter hadn’t even started translating it yet. So until then, Weiss was going to have to suffer and figure out a way not to snap at her friends. Or anyone for that matter.

She tried to calm herself down, breathing deeply and shaking her head, she gathered herself as best she could and stood from the fence. Tear tracks stained her face and her eyes were puffy and red.  
She summoned weak platform glyphs to use as stairs to get over the high fence, then did the same to get back down. 

From just that, she was already feeling the pull of exhaustion on her body and through her aura. She didn’t want to tell anyone that her aura reserves had dwindled to near-dangerous levels and that it was becoming harder and harder to summon her glyphs, let alone her white knight.  
She often hid away from everyone and only ever saw the doctor when it was time, even staying away from Yang and Blake. Winter was different though as she knew her sister could take being shouted at or having a fist thrown her way whereas her teammates probably wouldn’t react too kindly. 

Getting herself together once more, she started jogging towards the forest. Towards the cliff where she knew Ruby would go. 

Strangely, Weiss didn’t encounter any Grimm on the way through the icy trees, only ever spotting a small one every so often. She paid them no mind as she came closer to the cliff. It turned out it hadn’t been that far from the Port of Arden, which was worrying. What was even more worrying, the Grimm were nowhere to be found. It was like they’d simply disappeared out of existence. Or, they weren’t going to attack the Port in the first place and were simply travelling elsewhere.

Walking into the clearing on the cliff with the snow coming up to her knees, she saw nothing was there. Ruby wasn’t there. Had she already been killed? But there weren't any blood splatters anywhere. If her partner wasn’t here, then where was she?

As she thought things through as clearly as she could, a sound interrupted her. It came from somewhere and oddly, it sounded like a small dog yapping. The white-haired girl looked around, spinning around in a circle but didn’t spot anything. Not at first anyway.  
The yapping came again and again, Weiss turning to where she thought the sound was coming from.   
She squinted and strained her eyes to see. Still nothing. Then, a yap and a small black object jumped out of the deep snow on the opposite side of where Weiss was standing and then it disappeared into the snow again.

Weiss froze and tried not to make a sound as the pitch black being jumped out of the snow and yapped again, getting closer and closer each time it leapt out of the white powder.   
It stopped a few meters ahead and yapped non-stop, evidently trying to gain Weiss’ attention. 

The ex-heiress looked the small being over, noting it looked like a Grimm but it was far too small to do much damage. Plus, it’s markings were different. They were black instead of red and it’s crimson eyes shone with happiness instead of the intent to kill. Besides, it was actually sort of cute.  
What in all of Remnant was this creature? It definitely looked like a Grimm but it was behaving differently than any others Weiss had come across. 

The small creature sat down then and began to whimper and Weiss could’ve sworn her heart melted a little. It was just like a puppy and the white-haired girl couldn’t help but to kneel down and slowly hold her hand out to it.  
To her surprise, the tiny Grimm didn’t bite her and instead, it licked her hand vigorously before standing up again and shooting off into the deep snow again. 

When Weiss didn’t follow, the small Grimm leapt out of the snow again and yapped, continuing to do so until she got the message to follow.   
She chuckled, finding the pups antics quite amusing and as much as she thought she shouldn’t follow, she did anyway and was glad she did. 

The small Grimm pup led her to a cave just off the cliff. She stopped and inspected the entrance whilst her new companion shook the snow out of its fur before starting into the cave.   
It turned towards her and yapped, making her jump out of her skin.

Shrugging her shoulders, Weiss tentatively followed the pup into the cave, eventually came to a large area filled with stalagmites and stalactites. Still, she followed the pup further in, finally coming to a stop in another part of the cave, daylight coming through a small opening where the roof of the cave had collapsed. It gave just enough light for Weiss to make out the curled up shape of her partner.

Slowly walking closer, the young faunus lifted her head from off the floor, her eyes seemingly glowing in the dark but were in actual fact reflecting the little amount of lighting in the cave’s second room.  
Weiss heard a whimper and at first thought it to be the small Grimm but actually, it was Ruby.  
The Grimm pup yapped once and then left the cave, as if understanding that what was to come was something private.

“Ruby?” Weiss whispered so she didn’t startle the younger girl.

Ruby simply whimpered again and tried to move backwards but couldn’t as her back was already against a wall.  
Weiss stepped forwards, her heart breaking a little at the sound.   
“Ruby, it’s okay. You didn’t hurt me and I’m sorry I lost my temper and grabbed you.” The ex-heiress said as she knelt down next to her partner, trying her best to apologise. 

Ruby didn’t respond and just lay still. Well, that’s what Weiss thought until she felt a rough hand latch onto her own. Both stayed silent after that with Weiss softly rubbing her thumb against Ruby’s knuckles.

They weren’t sure how long had gone by but it was starting to get dark in the cave apart from the small amount of light from Weiss’ scroll, meaning the sun was setting. They needed to head back through the forest and back to the town before it became too dark but with Ruby still not moving much, that was going to be difficult.

“Hey Ruby?” Weiss whispered, getting her partner’s attention.

“Hmmm?” The young faunus lazily replied.

“We need to go soon, it’s getting a little dark and I’d prefer it if we didn’t have to travel through the forest with no lighting.” Weiss said, continuing on what she wanted to say.

“Hmmm, no. I wanna stay here…” came the quiet reply.

The wolf faunus was unusually subdued and quiet. It was quite concerning to Weiss that her partner had become like this over a time period of less than a day. Did she truly want to die? Or was it something else? 

“Ruby, come on. We can’t stay here, it’s too dangerous.” Weiss tried again, still speaking softly.

“No. Stay here. There’s no Grimm, they all left.” The younger girl replied just as quietly, her voice taking on the tone of a whine.

“We can’t stay here. It’s too cold, you know that.” The white-haired girl was starting to become impatient, her voice taking on the small amount of frustration she felt. 

“I can’t leave. I might hurt someone again.” The young faunus whined, slowly sitting up and shuffling closer to her partner. 

“You won’t. I promise you won’t because I won’t let you.” The white-haired girl responded, cupping the younger girl’s cheek.

Ruby looked at her properly then and nuzzled into the hand and even if Weiss could barely see it, she gave the older girl a look of adoration. She could see Weiss’ expression quite clearly thanks to being a faunus and saw the affection shining in her eyes.   
Gods, Ruby wanted to kiss her so badly it hurt. She was tempted to push the feeling down but once her eyes lay themselves on her partner’s lips, she let the feeling encase her entire being.

The young faunus sat up properly, scooted forwards a little more and placed a hand on the other girl’s cheek. She leaned in and hoped to both Gods Weiss didn’t reject her.

“Ruby, what are you-“ Weiss began, being cut off by chapped lips softly pressing against her own.   
She froze up momentarily before relaxing into it and kissing the younger girl back. 

Ruby pulled away first, a smile spreading across her face. Something she hadn’t done in a while.   
“So um-“ the younger girl began, Weiss cutting her off with a desperate kiss of her own.

——WARNING-SMUT-SCENE-IMMINENT——

Weiss pushed her backwards gently so they both lay down with the older girl never breaking the kiss. It became heated in moments, tongues began to explore each other’s mouths and hands began to roam.  
Before it could become too heated, Ruby pushed Weiss away and to the older girl’s surprise, the young faunus turned them over with Weiss now underneath. 

The white-haired girl was about to say something but couldn’t as the young Reaper restarted the heated kiss. A battle for dominance ensued, tongues overlapping, twisting and pushing against one another. Weiss tried to gain the upper hand by wrapping her arms around Ruby’s neck and pulling her closer but Ruby wasn’t having it.   
She pulled away slightly and smiled mischievously, even though Weiss couldn’t see it.  
She saw the confusion on the other girl’s face and her smile widened more.

“Ruby, what are you do-“ Again, Weiss was cut off but this time not by a kiss. A knee was being pressed into her most sensitive part right between her legs, causing her to let out a small, barely audible moan. She gasped as Ruby moved her knee up and then back down, causing heat to build up in her loins. 

Ruby snickered and repeated the action, gaining another beautiful moan from her partner below her. “Ru-Ruby...” Weiss tried to speak, but her own mewls of pleasure silenced the thought she was attempting to express.

As Ruby watched Weiss’ face contort in pleasure, an evil thought presented itself to the front of her mind. With as much innocence as the young faunus could possibly draw out she spoke to her lover as her leg stilled, “Yes, Weiss?”

Weiss couldn’t see the girl above her, but as the knee in between her legs stopped moving she couldn’t help but whine, “Rubyyyyyyy.”

“What is it you want Weiss; I can’t read your mind.” As Ruby waited for a response, she noticed a heady aroma drift to her nose, and a new idea formed. Ruby leaned down and trailed kisses across the older girl’s neck as she raised her lips to Weiss’ ear. “Back when I first saved you in the Emerald Forest, do you remember what I said? I wasn’t lying. I can smell you want more. Now, are you going to try and save your pride, or are you going to be a good girl and beg.” Ruby pulled her face away so she could watch the white-haired girl below her react to what she’d just said, and as she watched the desire engulf Weiss’ eyes, she began to think she should follow her own advice.

“Ruby. Please. I want you.” Ruby smiled as Weiss’s face turned as red as her lover’s namesake, but she didn’t continue.

Ruby lowered her lips to Weiss’ ear once more, “You’re going to need to do better than that princess.” She planted her lips on the pale, soft neck of her partner and let her mouth roam for a pulse. When she found one, she slowly added suction to her lips, letting the blood inside bruise the flawless skin. She did the same on several different spots of the other girl’s neck, leaving angry red marks that were definitely going to leave a mark for a few days.

“Please Ruby. I want you to take me,” unsatisfied, the faunus began to remove her lips from Weiss’ delicious neck, which quickly prompted the reaction Ruby had been waiting for, “Ruby, please just fuck me already!”  
The desperation and pleading in the older girl’s voice was something the young faunus didn’t know she needed, especially when it entailed teasing the hell out of her.

As the young girl smiled against Weiss’ neck, she resumed the ministrations between her legs and on her neck. “Now was that so hard?” The young Reaper taunted teasingly.

Another idea popped into her head and Ruby immediately acted on it, dropping one of her hands to the ex-heiress’ chest, beginning to massage the sensitive breast hidden underneath her dress. 

The young Reaper’s knee slowly moistened as the woman below her devolved into a mess of desire, and without sparing another thought, Ruby let her own desire follow suit. 

Finding the jacket Weiss had been wearing was already off, Ruby pulled the other girl’s dress up over her head and tore her own gown right off. The situation quickly escalated as Ruby pressed her lover into the ground, her mouth dropping to catch one of the sensitive nipples on the older girl’s chest. As soft moans and whines escaped the ex-heiress’ lips, Ruby felt the insecurity of her first time dissipate and she let her instincts guide her. Changing positions so Ruby was no longer straddling the woman below her she replaced her knee with her hands and slowly grasped the whole of Weiss’ sex over her panties. Rubbing two fingers across the moist patch on her partner’s underwear, she could feel the gasps escaping her lover’s chest, echoing around the large cavern of the cave and letting anyone nearby know what was going on.

“Ruby, please. I told you I wanted you, stop teasing me.” Weiss whined pathetically with slight frustration mixed in.

Letting go of the nipple in her mouth, Ruby leaned forwards to catch Weiss’ lips in a kiss as she slipped her hand under the annoying fabric barricade and spread the folds in between the delicious legs of her partner with her fingers. 

Feeling the moans of the heiress below her, Ruby could feel her confidence growing and as she forced her tongue to dominate Weiss’ own, she inserted a finger into the whining mess Weiss had turned into. The vibrations on Ruby’s tongue stirred the desire growing in her own chest and she slowly began pumping her finger in and out.

“Oh Gods!” Weiss moaned loudly, the sound reverberating around the cavern.

Ruby focused intently on Weiss’ reactions after that, repeating a motion whenever she felt her partner’s breath hitch or the walls inside her tighten. Soon enough Ruby felt the need to take things further; Adding a second finger and taking the neglected nipple on Weiss’ chest into her mouth once more, Ruby listened intently to the mewls of pleasure the ex-heiress tried so hard to hold back. Ruby pressed her thumb against the mound at the top of her lover’s sex and slowly began to massage her clitoris, nearly pushing the girl over the edge with her inevitable first orgasm.

Ruby noticed Weiss’ walls tightening and quickly slowed her movements as she let the other girl’s nipple out of her mouth. “You sound so cute Weiss, but I’m pretty sure your voice can get louder than that. Let me hear you scream.” She said, her voice dripping with confidence and desire, lined with a sultry tone she didn’t know she possessed.

With her next move decided, Ruby pulled her fingers out of Weiss with one last kiss to her lips and moved her head in between her legs.

Now finding herself much closer to the source of the scent, Ruby found it very hard to keep herself in check. She wanted to enjoy this and she wouldn’t let her animalistic instincts stop her from taking it slow.   
Resting her hands on Weiss’ toned stomach she let her fingers rake around the older girl’s navel, and with her mouth she teased the girl a bit more by planting kisses on her thighs, stomach, legs, and directly onto the now ruined undergarments.

Weiss couldn’t help but let out more pathetic whines at the loss of Ruby’s fingers. Even if she was prissy and proper most of the time, being ingrained into from a young age, she let it all go once and for all. Well actually, she’d let it all go a bit since: she wasn’t sure when but the whines, whimpers, gasps and loud moans told her it was either just after Ruby had kissed her or it was well before then. She didn’t know and she didn’t care.

Finding it impossible to restrain herself any longer, Ruby hooked two fingers on the sides of Weiss’ panties and slowly pulled them off of her legs, savoring the aroma they released as her partner’s sex was revealed to the chilling kiss of open air. Ruby opened her mouth and licked the entirety of her sex, greedily taking in the girl’s scent and taste. Listening to Weiss’ now unrestrained moans, Ruby licked up the arousal coating her thighs and crotch. As the young Reaper dropped her fingers to spread her lover apart, she let the chorus of praises and moans fuel her passion, pushing her tongue deep into Weiss and moaned as the potent taste of the white-haired girl’s arousal bombarded her taste buds. The vibration from Ruby’s moans stirred something deep inside Weiss, and she let her desire finally surface.

“Ruby, stop.” The younger girl instantly pulled her tongue out and set her legs on the ground, sitting back on her haunches.

“I’m sorry Weiss, I should have asked before I did that, I just thought that since you responded so positively to everything else, I was thinking that you would be okay with it. I'm sorry I shouldn’t have forced you to do this.” The young faunus rambled on, caught up in her own regret but was quickly pulled back down to Remnant as a soft hand pulled her into a sweet kiss.

Tasting herself on Ruby’s tongue, Weiss’ arousal shot back up despite the rambling that had ruined the mood. “Quiet you dolt, I just wanted to return the favor.” Weiss pulled Ruby down, shifting herself so the younger girl was facing opposite her and with a last word of approval began to give Ruby exactly the same love she had been receiving. “I didn’t want you feeling left out.”

Weiss pulled Ruby’s panties off in one swift move and quickly took the scythe-wielder’s own dripping sex into her mouth, savoring the taste and scent the same way Ruby had done for her. Feeling the vibrations of Ruby’s moans against her folds while knowing the young faunus felt the same sent Weiss’ pleasure to the moon that sat shattered in the sky. 

The cave was soon filled with the muffled moans of the two lovers, and as the end drew closer, they both hastened the service they gave each other. Devolving into a near mess of desire and love, the girls found their end at near the same time. Ruby came first, nearly screaming into the folds of the girl below her as Weiss felt the walls of her lover tighten and pulse around her tongue. The vibrations from Ruby’s moaning sent Weiss over the edge of her own orgasm, feeling the younger girl continue her ministrations as her own walls followed the same pattern as Ruby’s. Both girls refused to stop giving, forcing each other to ride their high as long as possible, but the need for oxygen soon won their fight to pleasure each other.

———————SMUT-SCENE-END—————-

The only sound left in the cave was the quiet pants and sighs of the two girls as they slowly came back to their senses, the high of their orgasms dissipating leaving only love and desire behind.  
They were warm and sweaty, just about feeling the cool air drifting through cracks in the cave’s walls. They didn’t care and simply readjusted themselves so they were cuddling closely, sharing their body heat for the night.

“I missed you, Weiss.” Ruby mumbled, already half asleep.

“I missed you too, dolt.” Weiss replied, also beginning to fall asleep.

Both girls soon fell asleep, happy and content to sleep on a cold cave floor with dreams and nightmares nowhere to be found. It wouldn’t be until the next day that Weiss would realise her mistake in letting Ruby bite her neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooof that was super duper steamy.   
> The only parts I didn’t write was the smut scene. Everything else is my doing but imma thank you again, SerratedGem833 for the seriously awesome and very HOT as fuck smut scene.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed and I’ll see you all next chapter!


	14. Disagreement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Embarrassment, squabbling Schneesters and a whole lot of talk about Weiss’ new sex life.  
> Or rather, an argument with Winter on who she slept with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooooo again. Another early chapter because I’ve now written up to chapter 17 and imma be starting chapter 18 tonight. I have a lot of writing to catch up on.  
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I reeeallly hope you find my humour funny.

As the sun awoke from its nightlong slumber so did the two girls in the surprisingly warm cave. They were woken to the sounds of yapping and a scroll ringing loudly, both of which were echoing around the cavern.

“Uuuugh! Stupid Grimm puppy.” Ruby grumbled as she sleepily sat up and rubbed at her eyes, Weiss doing the same before looking around for her jacket.

She pulled it towards her and grabbed her scroll from the inside pocket, looking at the caller I.D with bleary eyes, and to her surprise, it was Winter.  
She answered just before it could go off.

“Hello, Winter. Is something wrong?” She said into the phone, gaining Ruby’s attention so she put the call on loudspeaker.

Her older sister’s voice rang out, bouncing off the walls of the cave. “Finally! What took you so long to pick up? Where are you right now?” 

The younger Schnee took note of the concern in her sister’s voice, never really hearing anything like it until now. It was strange to hear her sister being this concerned for her and it made her feel guilty but uncomfortable at the same time.

“Well, I’m in a cave near a cliff. Ruby’s here too.” She said, adding the last part on so Winter wouldn’t become more worried that she might have stayed in a potentially dangerous cave on her own.

“Looks like we’ve found the right place then.” The older Schnee said, her voice slightly muffled from obviously pulling her scroll away from her face. She was talking to someone else, who’s voice could only just be heard through the scroll. Blake was here too. And if she was here, Yang was as well. 

Panic began to rise in her chest and she looked to where Ruby was supposed to be, now only noticing that she wasn’t there. Instead she was pulling her hospital gown back on along with her underwear. She’d understood that if Winter was outside the cave, she needed to get dressed and not make it obvious what they did the night before. That was going to be difficult with Blake being a cat faunus. 

“Weiss, are you there?” Winter said through the scroll but her voice wasn’t just coming from the device, it was coming from the cave as well. Her friends and sister were now walking through the first cavern. 

“Y-yes, I’m here.” She stuttered, her nerves soaring and her heart beating so fast it felt like it was going to jump out of her chest.

“Good. Which part are you in?” Came the next question. 

“Err we’re a bit further down but we could come to you.” The younger Schnee replied, looking to Ruby for confirmation that that was alright. The younger girl just shrugged and started trying to tame her messy hair, evidently trying to get rid of more evidence from the night before. 

“Sure, we will wait where we are. See you soon.” The Specialist said.

“Y-yeah, see you soon Winter.” She stuttered again, hanging up and mentally slapped herself for doing so. It’s not like her sister would know what happened! Blake might and that was a problem but maybe they could hide it and play it off like it was nothing. No, there was no way they could hide the lingering scent of arousal. Plus, Weiss was sure Ruby bit and sucked on her neck a few times last night.

That was when Weiss actually realised there was no hiding what they’d done. The evidence was too great, never mind the obvious marks that would be on her neck. Weiss groaned out loud, putting her face in her hands. Ruby was there in an instant.

“Weiss, you okay?” She inquired, concerned.

“Nope.” She responded, uncharacteristically popping the ‘P’. 

“Okay, what’s wrong?” Came the next increasingly worried question.

“I think you’ve left hickeys on my neck.” The older girl whispered, her face becoming red from the impending embarrassment. She could guarantee that her sister wouldn’t be able to look her in the eye knowing what she’d done with her partner.

“Yeeeah? What’s wrong with that?” The young Reaper replied innocently. Too innocently.

Weiss peeked at her through her finger and could just make out a mischievous smile on Ruby’s face in the little light they had.   
“Gods, Winter is never going to look at me the same again or at all. And Blake and Yang are… I don’t know. Yang will probably laugh and I have no idea how Blake will respond. Gods, Ruby I could kill you right now!” 

“Heh sorry.” Ruby said, certainly not sounding sorry. “Come on, we should go meet up with them. Can’t keep them waiting forever and if they came in here, Blake would know. Even I can tell just from breathing.” She added, beginning to walk towards the other cavern where Winter, Yang and Blake were waiting.

“Ugh! Not helping Ruby!” She shouted as her partner laughed, shouting for the Grimm pup to follow as she ran away, leaving Weiss to put her jacket back on and try to smooth out the creases in her dress as well as trying to tame her own hair, sulking as she did so before making her own way to meet her sister and friends.

Ten minutes later of slow, dread-filled walking, Winter came into view holding a large dust torch and her saber. She wasn’t just holding it however, she was pointing her weapon at something cowering against one of the walls.

“Don’t touch him! Can’t you see he’s scared!?” Ruby’s voice echoed, laced with fear and anger. 

Of course! The small Grimm that had helped Weiss find Ruby. She needed to stop her sister before she did something stupid. The younger Schnee looked to where she assumed Yang and Blake were and saw that Yang had a tight hold on Ruby, trying her hardest to stop her from defending her unusual friend.

“Winter, stop!” Weiss commanded, stepping between the Grimm pup and her sister. 

“Weiss, move out of the way. It could attack you.” Winter responded and if she was surprised by her sister defending a Grimm, she didn’t show it.

“No. This little Grimm has done nothing wrong. He’s the one that showed me where Ruby was. He’s friendly. I know that’s hard to understand but trust me. He could’ve attacked me whilst I was looking for Ruby or he could’ve attacked both of us in the cave but he didn’t. He stood guard in case other Grimm turned up. He’s not aggressive and if you haven’t noticed he has different markings than that of other Grimm we know of.” Weiss quickly explained and for the first time, saw her sister falter and lower her sword.

Yang let Ruby go at that and the young faunus practically bolted to the little Grimm and picked him up, shushing him and telling him it was alright and he was safe. She threw a menacing glare towards Winter before turning on her heel and walking through the rest of the cave, exiting out into the frigid temperatures. All the while, the small Grimm whimpered and whined the whole way.

After a few moments of silence, the other four followed in silence and Weiss knew they had questions about what happened and everything to do with the small Grimm.

Finally out of the cave, the sun had fully risen painting the landscape brightly and causing Weiss to shut her eyes from it, blinking rapidly to get used to the new lighting.  
She then felt someone poke her on the neck and she turned to whoever it was.

Yang. Why was she smiling like she knew something? There was a mischievous twinkle in the blonde’s eyes and that was when Weiss remembered. Her neck was full of hickeys!

“Looks like someone had fun last night.” The blonde whispered.

The shorter girl’s face burned bright red as she tried to cover her neck and walk away as fast as she could towards an airship waiting for them all on the cliff.   
Yang laughed out loud whilst Blake and Winter watched curiously.

The white-haired girl boarded the airship and stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes going wide and her face going an even darker shade of red. If that was even possible.

“Ruby! Couldn’t you have changed elsewhere!” She yelled but she didn’t turn away as her eyes were transfixed on her partner’s bare back.

“Oh, hey Weiss.” Ruby replied nonchalantly, bending over to pull a pair of black stockings on. 

“Ruby, what happened to your back?” She asked, her embarrassment fading a little.

The young Reaper froze mid-way through pulling her right stocking on, turning her head slightly to look at her partner with wide eyes.   
She quickly turned back and continued to dress, quickening her pace so Weiss couldn’t see anymore of her scars.  
“You...wouldn’t want to know. It’s not a nice story.” She replied quietly, keeping her back turned.

“Did...did my... father do that to you?” Weiss questioned, worry painting her tone and etching it’s features onto her face. 

Ruby sighed deeply and finally turned to look her partner in the eye. “Weiss, please don’t. I don’t- I don’t wanna talk about it.” She pleaded, her eyes full of hidden sadness and despair.

“Okay. I’m sorry.” Weiss said, apologising even though she wasn’t sure if she should.

“It’s fine. Maybe I’ll tell you when I’m more comfortable.” Came Ruby’s reply as she turned her back once more and put her boots on and then a half mask to cover the veins and red eye she still had.

“Miss Rose? Are you now decent?” Winter’s voice shouted from outside the airship.

The young Reaper responded by walking to the open doors before walking back in and sitting down. Weiss followed suit and sat down a few seats away and looked out of the window with a solemn look on her face. 

She heard Ruby sigh, stand up and sit next to her.   
“You don’t need to be sorry.” Was all the younger girl said before leaning her head against Weiss’ shoulder, her wolf ears tickling her partner’s cheek.

Weiss smiled slightly and rested her own head against Ruby’s whilst the little Grimm jumped up to lie on her lap,   
Winter entered the airship and glanced at the pair, doing a double take to confirm what she saw.   
Yang and Blake entered as the older Schnee marched up to her sister and Ruby, grabbing her sister’s chin and lifting it up to inspect her neck.

“What in all of Remnant are these?” She demanded, her voice no longer soft or sisterly but authoritative and commanding.

How could Weiss keep forgetting Ruby had left several marks on her neck!?   
Both girls paled at the realisation and began to stutter out their excuses.

“Be quiet.” The older woman commanded, turning to Ruby. “I asked Weiss, not you.” 

The pair became quiet, neither looking at the intimidating Specialist.  
“Well?” She demanded again, looking at Weiss this time. Her foot began to tap on the airship's floor, her patience running thin.

“They’re-um- hickeys…” Weiss mumbled, shrinking into herself and wishing she could just vanish into thin air.

“Hickeys? And why is your neck covered in them?” Came the next demand and the younger Schnee shrank even more into her seat, trying to become as small as possible. 

Before she could respond however, Ruby jumped up from her seat, removed Winter’s hand and actually dared to square off with the Specialist.  
“How is that any of your business?” She sneered, her ears flicking back in barely contained anger.  
“How would you like it if I asked why you have such a shitty sex life? Or rather, how none existent it is?” She fumed as she let a small something slip out.

Winter’s face seemed to contort in surprise before going straight back to an intimidating glare. “I’ll have you know my sex life is not none existent and it has nothing to do with you!” 

“See! You don’t like it so why force Weiss to answer questions about hers? If Weiss wants to get hot and bothered, she can. She doesn’t need your permission to do so. And if she wants to fuck me, she can! She’s a consenting young adult and can make her own decisions on who she takes to bed!” Ruby argued and then realised what she’d said, turning a beautiful dark shade of crimson. 

To everyone’s surprise, so did Winter who huffed and turned away, marching towards the cockpit of the airship. The only sound on the ship was Yang’s uproarious laughter, Blake’s badly hidden giggles and Weiss’ grumbling.

The young Reaper looked to Weiss and saw that her face was burning just as much as hers.   
“I’m going to kill you, Ruby…” the white-haired girl mumbled through her hands covering her face.

“Sorry…” came Ruby’s meek apology as she sat down. 

The whiterose duo stayed quiet as Winter finally took the airship above the trees and back to the large town. Yang and Blake whispered to one another, most likely about how they were going to wind their two other teammates up, never letting them live it all down.

***

Winter’s hotel room

“Weiss, I honestly cannot understand it. How can you suddenly become so stupid, so irresponsible? It just doesn’t make sense how you would do something like this without thinking it through.” Winter chided, her face scrunched up in genuine confusion. “What do you think people are going to say if word gets out that you slept with Ruby Rose, the Crimson Reaper of all people?”

“Why are you so against Ruby? And why do you keep going on about this? So what if I slept with her, it’s none of your business who I choose to sleep with.” Weiss argued back, throwing her own questions out into the open.

“You know exactly why I’m against her, Weiss,” the older Schnee deadpanned. “You know she murdered people and I’m not just talking about the ones she did under father’s influence. She murdered four newly graduated huntsmen just because they apparently killed another Grimm that happened to be her friend. There is absolutely no reason why she went rogue like she did.” Winter continued, finally explaining her reasoning.

“Winter, I don’t care. What would you do if some random people murdered your best friend right in front of you and you had the chance to do something about it there and then? I can guarantee you wouldn’t see sense or think rationally and you would just want to take revenge as soon as possible. I know I would.” The younger Schnee disputed matter-of-factly, standing from her current seat to pave the room.

Winter sighed deeply and tried to think she would take the right course of action but ultimately, she knew Weiss was correct. She would want to take instant revenge on the person or people that took her best friend's life. If she actually had a best friend.   
“I concede you are right in that aspect, Weiss but I’m still against Ruby and what you both did. I just don’t understand why.” She said, sighing once more as she stared into her glass of wine.

“Well, tough shit. Life’s a bitch and there’s nothing you can do about it. If I want to sleep with Ruby again, I will. If I want to date Ruby, I will. It’s not up to you Winter. You might be the only family member that cares about me but I can make my own decisions without your say. You don’t understand because as far as I know you’ve never felt anything for anyone. In both ways.” As Weiss spoke, her cheeks tinted pink as her mind wandered back to hearing her partner’s moans, the feeling of Ruby’s tongue hitting that perfect spot.  
She wasn’t angry, not really. She was mostly trying to defend her partner and her own feelings without saying them but the passing memories were causing other reactions to occur.

The older woman huffed in frustration and just decided to take a sip of her wine before she replied.   
“You’re right again, little sister. Life is a bitch and you can make your own decisions without my say so. But, you are wrong that I don’t know what it feels like to be with someone.”  
She found the contents of her glass much more interesting than the entire room and now wished she’d never admitted that but it was too late to take it back.

“What? You actually dated someone? Who?” Weiss questioned, turning to her sister with a curious but surprised expression on her face. 

“Just because I shared that doesn’t mean I’m going to tell you who I dated. I never fell in love with them, it was more like I tolerated them after so long and then something happened that became the last straw for me. Truth be told, I was young and I was stupid, nothing more.” Winter replied, taking another sip of her wine.

Weiss processed the new information, thinking it through carefully. She didn’t understand Winter’s problem with Ruby and it confused her to no end but it had to do with her own experiences in a relationship Weiss knew nothing about. And besides, it wasn’t like she and Ruby were dating or anything. They just...lost themselves within each other for a while, forgetting the world and the problems it had and forgetting the terrible people that resided in that world.

Yes, Ruby had her issues but so did Weiss. Yes, Ruby hurt her but she didn’t mean to, she wasn’t herself and she regretted it every single day after. But then, Weiss could say she hurt Ruby, in a way. By not saving her in the Emerald Forest when she had the chance but then again, Yang would have bled out if she hadn’t stayed with her.   
So no matter what, she would’ve lost one of them in the end.

“Winter, I still don’t understand why you’re so against Ruby. Can’t you just tell me why so I can understand?” The younger Schnee finally said after thinking for so long, sitting back down on her own seat opposite her sister.

Winter sighed once more and drained her glass of its contents and stood up to pace the room herself. “You should know why now Weiss. But I suppose I will make it a little more obvious.” She paused and turned to the younger girl. “It is because she injured you and left you in a coma for seven months. Since then, something has gone wrong with you and no one knows what it is. It has to do with you being gravely injured by her. They found the exact same black substance in her blood that you have. She is dangerous, unpredictable, sly, manipulative and Gods know what else. I’m sorry Weiss but I cannot let you date her. She’s a criminal and a monster.” 

Winter finished her rant and began to pace the room, waiting patiently for Weiss’ response. She’d made her case and she had the evidence to prove that the young Reaper was what she said she was. 

“No Winter. Ruby is predictable. She’s dangerous because of what she is and what our own father made her. She certainly isn’t sly or manipulative either. If anyone is unpredictable, dangerous, sly and manipulative; it’s me. I’m the one that lashes out at everyone. I’m the one that loses my temper so quickly now. Not Ruby. If anything, she’s mellowed out. I’m the dangerous one Winter. I’m barely holding my temper right now from what you just said. Whatever is happening to me isn’t because of Ruby and you know it.” Weiss argued back, admitting a part of her own condition for once.

“But she still hurt you Weiss! How can you even look at her when she almost killed you?” The Specialist shouted, finally losing her cool. She never usually lost her composure. It was rare for her to do so but it seemed her little sister still wasn’t understanding what she was getting at.  
“Why are you so determined to defend her. Everything I have said against her, you have turned it around and defended her! Why? What makes her so special?”

It seemed the younger Schnee’s temper couldn’t be held back any longer either as her eyes turned red and she stood up abruptly and shouted something she didn’t want to admit yet.  
“Because I love her, Winter!”

Her anger dissipated as fast as it had appeared and she slumped onto her seat and breathed heavier than normal as though admitting her feelings was the most exhausting thing to do.

Winter stopped still and stared in shock at her little sister, trying to process what she’d said.   
“Why? How and since when?” She asked, her voice uncharacteristically quiet.

It was the young Schnee’s turn to sigh deeply and drain her own untouched glass of wine before she answered.  
“I figured it out after she was taken away at Beacon. Every sleepless night, every nightmare, every time I missed a meal was because I couldn’t stand being separated from her. She was the only reason I came back to Atlas and she’s the only reason I’m in this town.”

“Okay. I can’t seem to persuade you. So do what you want.” The Specialist said, finally putting the argument to rest. Well sort of. “But, if she ever hurts you again, I will kill her.” 

“Uh huh.” Weiss deadpanned, doubting that her sister could actually take her partner down in a one on one fight.

With the argument won, the younger Schnee stood from her seat and left the room, saying nothing to her older sister as she left.

The older Schnee sighed, her shoulders sagging. Maybe she should finally get to work on translating the journal Weiss found. Anymore time wasted on not doing it could spell the words for disaster or rather, someone getting badly hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was fun. I think. I hope.   
> I hope you all had a good giggle at this chapter. It was quite fun to write.   
> This would’ve been a break from all the angst but it kinda is relevant to the story. Sort of. Maybe. I don’t know. 
> 
> Anyways, hope you all enjoyed and I’ll see you all next chapter where the plot actually starts going in the direction I was planning.   
> Chapter 15: The Journal


	15. The Journal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, contents of the journal Weiss found is revealed and surprisingly, Ruby helps with translating it with Winter, amongst noticing other things about it.
> 
> Things also begin to take a turn for the worse for Weiss. I wonder what’s gonna happen to her this time?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like I became impatient again. And besides, I just wanna say how much I officially hate Ironwood. I cannot even explain how much I hate his guts even if he is a fictional character. Like, omfg, he needs to die ASAP.   
> On a different note, enjoy this early chapter and as I said, I got impatient again.   
> Enjoy!

Three days after the Schnee sister’s argument, Winter had gotten down to business with translating the journal, barely coming out of her hotel room to speak to anyone. Food had to be brought to her or she’d forget to eat since she was concentrating so much on the journal. 

Weiss had come by a few times to see how she was doing and try to help with the translating, even if she barely knew the Old Atlesian Language. After just a couple of hours, Weiss would give up and move onto finding Ruby who was usually either at the edge of town or hiding atop the hotel. 

Thankfully Weiss had found her on the roof and sighed in relief at the fact that she didn’t need to go looking for her partner and possibly getting lost on the way.   
As the heavy door to the roof slammed shut behind the white-haired girl, Ruby looked over her shoulder to see who it was, even though she knew exactly who it would be.   
She turned back to looking over the town and sighed and Weiss could’ve sworn she saw her partner’s cheek slightly flushing. 

The ex-heiress smiled a little as she stood as close to the younger girl as possible, leaning against the railing on the border of the roof. 

“Hey.” Ruby greeted, trying to subtly move away.

“Hey.” Weiss parroted, noticing the failed subtlety, smirking as she moved back into place against her partner’s side.

Ruby moved again and Weiss followed. It soon became a game of the young faunus moving along the railing and the white-haired girl following but it had to come to an end.

The younger girl finally hit the side railing and had to stop, unless she wanted to go over it.   
Instead of following, Weiss stopped still and turned to her partner, an unusual look in her eye, something Ruby couldn’t decipher it at first.   
Then it hit her like a truck. 

Desire.

But it wasn’t just that. There was sadness in there along with a burning question Weiss was hesitating to ask.

“Weiss? What’s-“ the wolf faunus began.

“What are we?” the young Schnee suddenly asked.

“What? What do you mean?” Puzzlement engulfed the younger girl’s expression and she took a small step forward. Weiss stepped back. Ruby’s chest became tight at the reaction, her heart almost shattering.

“I mean, what are we? Are we dating or-or was what happened just a one time thing, a spur of the moment?” Weiss questioned on bated breath, her own heart beating wildly, a lump growing in her throat.

“Um… this- this is gonna sound super stupid but I- I thought we already were.” Ruby stuttered, her face flushing ever so slightly as the events of the cave flew through her head. 

“You did?” The white-haired girl asked, dumbfounded at her partner’s words.  
“Well, I guess… if you want to that is… we could, you know, make it official?” Now Weiss was stumbling over her words, her heart fluttering in her chest at the thought of finally, officially being with the girl she’d missed so much. That she loved more than she could describe.

Ruby didn’t respond at first, hesitating. She didn’t know if it was a good idea. She didn’t know if she’d become a danger to Weiss, or if she’d hurt the older girl again. What if she did? Winter wouldn’t take it lightly and she could guarantee she would try to kill her with no warning. Was it all worth the risk? What if she was arrested for all of her crimes when they got back to Atlas? What if she was put into prison for the rest of her life? Would Weiss want to stay with her if that happened? So again, was it all worth the risk?

Taking a deep breath, she’d finally come to a decision. Plus, Weiss’ hopeful look had turned to one of dread so she really needed to say something.

“If- if you think it’s worth all of the risks we’ll face. All of the challenges, then…” she paused, taking another deep breath. “Yes. We should make it official.”

At those words, Weiss’ heart exploded with joy and affection and she threw herself at her partner, their lips smashing together almost painfully. They grabbed onto each other, desperate to be as close as possible and in that moment, they were the only people in the world. 

Fire began to build between the two, the kiss becoming more passionate, tongues battling for dominance.   
Weiss tightened her hold around her new girlfriend’s neck, grabbing onto her hair to keep her in place so the kiss could go on longer.  
Ruby’s hands began to roam, first taking their place on the other girl’s waist before drifting down to her hips and then finally coming to a stop on the white-haired girl’s behind.   
She took the chance to squeeze it, earning a sultry smile in return. 

“I have a feeling you’re trying to get into my panties again.” Weiss said, her tone becoming something neither of the two knew she had. Smooth and sultry, almost authoritative but teasing. She took her partner’s chin between her index finger and thumb, moving it to the side before kissing down her neck and sucking on the pulse point, leaving a prominent mark of her own.

“Hmmm...maybe I am.” The young Reaper replied, surprisingly enjoying being bitten. She could feel the wetness between her legs growing, especially as she caught the scent of her partner’s own arousal.

Unfortunately, heated things had to eventually cool down and in this case, very quickly.  
The pair jumped apart comically as the heavy door to the roof slammed shut, their eyes wide and their faces becoming hilarious shades of red.

Weiss mentally slapped herself as she realised who was now on the rooftop with them. Winter stood just in front of the door with her own face turning pink. It was quite the sight to see Specialist Schnee, second in command of the Atlas Military turning pink and not looking anyone in the eye, lest she remember what she’d just witnessed.

“Um...hi Winter…” Weiss stuttered, her embarrassment far higher than it had any right to be. 

“Weiss… you know,” the older Schnee began to say, “there are rooms in the hotel and I’m sure you both have your own…” she trailed off and cleared her throat, trying to forget what she’d seen and heard.

“Well, um… this is awkward…” Ruby piped up, trying in vain to lighten the mood.   
Both sister’s threw a look at the young faunus, one glaring and the other in disbelief.   
“S-sorry…” she said and rubbed the back of her neck as she suddenly became nervous.

A few moments of awkward silence passed, the three of them saying nothing nor wanting to look each other in the eye. Eventually, the silence had to be broken and the reason Winter had sought them out had to be brought into the open.

The Specialist cleared her throat, uncharacteristically stuttering slightly. “A-anyway, Weiss, I wanted to tell you I have translated the first two pages of the journal. If you would like to know what it says I will meet you in my hotel room. Unless, you would prefer to wait until later…”   
The insinuation was there and Weiss was wishing her sister would shut up and leave already. 

It wasn’t like Winter to become so flustered over something that was so natural. She was probably berating herself for it and would continue to do so for the rest of the day.   
With the awkward conversation over, the older Schnee turned back around, opened the door and left, her footsteps comically fast descending the many stairs.

Both Weiss and Ruby sighed in relief in unison, glanced at each other and giggled.   
Once they’d calmed down again, Weiss followed after her sister but stopped at the door, turning to Ruby, she asked, “Are you coming or what?” 

The young faunus stifled a chuckle. “I would’ve been if not for the interruption.” 

Weiss flushed again and turned away, not even bothering to reply to the insinuation of what might have happened. Ruby laughed out loud at that and followed her partner to Winter’s room.

When they finally made it to the correct door and knocked, Ruby thought of something that Winter had said. Something about a journal. What journal?  
A moment later and the door opened, the Specialist looking between the two girls before moving out of the way and letting them enter.

The room was slightly bigger than Ruby’s own but she was quite content with her room. It was cozy and had just enough space for her to do her usual exercises. Well, excluding the ones she needed Infernal Rose for.

The young faunus stood in the middle of the room, shuffling her feet awkwardly as Winter and Weiss sat next to each other and looked over a leather-bound journal, often referring to several pieces of paper.

The journal looked to be very old, it’s leather cracking in several places, especially along its spine where it was obvious it had been opened and shut many times over its life. It’s colour was a mix between light and dark brown, its pigment fading over however long it had existed. 

Ruby tried to get a closer look to what it said inside but she didn’t want to move in case she interrupted the Schnee sisters. She sighed and shuffled forwards a little, gaining their attention. 

“What’s with the old book?” The young Reaper questioned, not wanting an awkward silence to envelop the room.

Winter took a deep breath, looked down at the journal and then back to Ruby, like she was contemplating whether or not the younger girl should have an insight into the Schnee family.

“Winter…” Came Weiss’ quiet voice. “We need all the help we can get.”

The older woman sighed and said, “I doubt she can speak Old Atlesian and translate the words we have no idea about.” 

“I could try? We were kinda forced to learn it in the research facility…” Ruby said, trailing off as she tried not to remember those boring lessons or the punishments for skipping them.

Without another word but with one more sigh, Winter stood from her seat and gestured for the younger girl to sit down in her place.  
Ruby did so, carefully placing her fluffy tail between the gap in the chair and finally looked over the words on the pages of the journal.

To the Schnee sister’s surprise, the younger girl began to scan through the sentences and instantly pointed out one of the words neither sister could translate. 

“You see this word here? I can’t pronounce it but I know for a fact it isn’t Old Atlesian. I think it’s ancient Vacuan and roughly translates as Reaping.” She said and continued scanning through the page, coming across several other words in what she thought was ancient Vacuan.

“Ancient Vacuan? That language hasn’t been spoken in centuries, if not longer. Do you know what it translates to?” Weiss said, leaning closer to her partner so she could see the word being pointed to.

“Hold on a second.” The young Reaper replied, turning the page over and quickly scanning the next one. “Huh. That’s weird.” 

“What’s weird? What have you found?” Winter finally spoke, leaning in over Ruby’s shoulder.

“Well, this isn’t just written in Old Atlesian.” Ruby began to explain, turning another page and scanning through it as she spoke. “It’s mostly Old Atlesian but there’s quite a few words that are all of the Old Languages. Ancient Vacuan, the Old Valean language and even Old Mistrali.” She paused and flipped half way through the leather book, confirming something she’d thought impossible.   
“Further in, it’s written in the languages we’d find today but it’s unrefined. Whoever wrote this keeps going back to the older languages.” She expounded, just about to go back to the front of the journal when a certain word caught her eye. 

She stopped on the page she was on and read the few sentences that connected with that word, her brow furrowing and her ears flattening against her head slightly. It just didn’t make any sense. Why would something like this be in this book? Who did it even belong to in the first place?

“What is it?” Winter questioned, trying to see what the wolf faunus was reading.

“This word.” Was the reply and a finger pointing to another word. They could all translate it and it confused all of them more, especially the Schnee sisters.

“That’s modern Mistralian.” Weiss pointed out, becoming more puzzled the more she thought about it.

“The question is, why are Reaper’s being referenced in this journal?” Winter said to no one in particular, holding her chin between her thumb and fingers in deep thought.

“My guess, the person who wrote this journal was a full blooded Reaper.” Ruby stated, trying to read a few lines that were written in Old Atlesian.

“What? That’s not possible. Our family only goes back a couple of centuries. There wouldn’t be any Reapers in that era.” The older Schnee said, scepticism paving her voice.

“Well, the start of this entry here states otherwise. The word Reaper isn’t in Old Atlesian though so I wouldn’t be surprised if you weren’t able to translate it.” The young faunus explained, pointing the journal entry near the back of the book.  
She then read it aloud in Valian. “As Reapers, we must take responsibility for the chaos and destruction our own kind have caused upon the world. My father and I must not fail in our mission to end the Grimm Reaper’s life, lest we all perish and become ash at her hands.” The young Reaper paused, scanning down the page to prove her point further and continued to read. 

“With the Light I inherited through my Mother’s curse, Father and I have decided I should be the one to do the deed. Nothing else has been a success. The Light within must be the answer we seek to destroy the immortal Grimm Reaper and although she is my Mother, I must not let that fact cloud my Purity, lest I become corrupted and turn to Grimm.”  
She paused once more, trying to process the new information but couldn’t quite wrap her head around it all. The Grimm Reaper? She’d heard stories as a child, before she’d been abducted about the Grimm Reaper. The stories often scared her, causing her to have nightmares on a frequent basis. The story told of a Reaper that was like no other, a Queen that was immortal and killed any who dared to defy her. 

“Ruby? What’s wrong?” Weiss’ concerned voice said, breaking through her thoughts.

“What? Nothing.” She replied and read further down, not finding anything else on the matter. She turned a few pages and read through it before translating once more, finding something important.

“Entry 91: Today was a difficult day. In the final parts of planning to take my Mother’s life, Father and I met a group of humans. At first glance, they seemed normal but frail. They were without a semblance or aura but they still had their soul.   
We questioned why they were asking for Father’s help and what they told us was something out of a nightmare.”   
As Ruby spoke, the Schnee siblings glanced at each other, puzzlement and curiosity on their faces. Winter had become bored of standing and chose to sit on the corner of the table, listening intently.

“Apparently, the Grimm Reaper had visited them in their dreams and spoke to them before plunging her hand into their heart. After which, their personality began to change. They would become unpredictable and a danger to themselves and others around them. Not only that, their eyes turned red and veins, much like my Mother’s, would appear from nowhere and begin to spread. It was concerning to say the least but I had a hunch of what it was they were going through.”

Ruby stopped and re-read the paragraph then looked to Weiss, concern her only expression.  
Winter looked just as worried at the young faunus, shifting uncomfortably on the corner of the table.  
The young Reaper looked back to the journal entry and saw it had nothing more on it. She flipped the page but it was blank and after that, every other page was blank as well.   
Then she noticed something.

Running her index finger down the middle of two pages, she felt a few snags where it was like someone had ripped a few pages out.  
She voiced her discovery as she tested each blank page.   
“Someone’s ripped the last pages out.”

“What?” Both Schnee’s said in unison.

“The last pages. They’ve been removed. Like, really carefully but I can tell. Where did you find this journal by the way?” Ruby replied, repeating what she’d said as she showed them.

“Father’s desk when I was looking for his airship keys.” Weiss said after a moment, hesitating to give the information since her sister hadn’t known she’d basically stolen their deceased Father’s airship.

Winter stared at her in disbelief and then a look that said ‘We’re going to talk about that later’ replaced it. 

“Do you think he ripped the pages out? Maybe kept them somewhere?” Weiss asked, looking away from the disapproving eyes of her sister.

Ruby looked at where the pages had been taken again and noted something that suggested the pages hadn’t been taken recently.

“No. If you look closely, the torn parts are kinda stained, like the pages were taken a long time ago and not recently.” The wolf faunus replied, making sure she was correct in her assumption.

“We need those pages. They could have the most important words that could tell us the answers we want about Weiss’ condition.” Winter said, hope returning to her eyes as she looked between the two younger girls.

Her hope was soon slashed as the younger of the three spoke the words no one wanted to talk to about. “What condition? Is it something to do with the red eyes and the veins? Like what it says in this journal? The change in personality and the lashing out for no reason?” 

Both Weiss and Winter sighed in unison, very much not wanting to answer. Inevitably, one of them had to.

“Yes…” Weiss said before her sister could say anything on the matter. 

“Since when? And why didn’t you explain anything to me?” Ruby asked, beginning an interrogation. She stood from her chair and walked to the balcony door, opening it wide and breathing in the fresh air when Weiss nor Winter answered her. Not at first anyway.

It was like they were both thinking things through, contemplating if they should explain the situation.   
Eventually, Weiss spoke up, her voice quiet and unsure but apologetic.

“Two weeks after I woke up, I lashed out at Winter. My eyes, they were red and Winter noticed veins spreading up from my chest. The doctors did countless tests and couldn’t find anything. The only thing they found was a black substance in my blood. Each time they take blood, there’s more of it and they’re getting worried.” The ex-heiress paused in her explanation, thinking if she should finally come clean about her aura. She decided it was for the best that she did.  
“My aura levels, they’re dwindling and I don’t know why. It’s becoming harder and harder everyday to shield myself with it. My Glyphs are brittle and break easily and I can’t even summon my Knight anymore.” 

The younger Schnee looked away guiltily from the surprised expressions of her partner and sister. She half expected them to become angry at her for hiding something so important. She half expected them to start shouting and bawling but they didn’t.

Instead, she felt herself being pulled up from her seat and arms wrap around her and hold her tight. The soft voice of her sister came from just above her as she smushed her face into her sister’s abdomen.   
“You should’ve told me. I don’t know why you didn’t but it doesn’t matter now. We’re going to find a way to stop whatever it is that’s happening to you. No matter what.”

Tears began to stain the younger Schnee’s face as her sister spoke comfortingly, rubbing circles into her back. She mumbled a thank you and pulled back, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

“I also keep having nose bleeds but the blood isn’t...blood. It’s black goop.” She admitted to the floor, not wanting to look anyone in the eye.

A moment passed and no one made a sound apart from the young Schnee sniffing loudly. 

“What else are you keeping a secret? It would’ve been nice to be let in on what’s been going on with you. It would’ve been nice to know that my girlfriend is a ticking time bomb ready to go off in an instant.” the young Reaper said, her voice a mix of anger, disbelief and dripping with venom. She’d turned away from the sister’s, directing her scowl outside along with her barely contained anger. 

“How dare you speak to her like that!“ An enraged voice of the Atlas Military Specialist yelled, causing Weiss to jump and Ruby to abruptly turn around, a look of shock on her face.  
“She’s been struggling for the past few months with all of this and where have you been, hiding away and murdering innocent huntsmen! You even almost killed her! Amongst many things, you cannot say anything about keeping secrets!” The Schnee fumed, her features contorting to exactly how she felt. 

The young Reaper felt her own anger resurface once more and marched up to the taller woman to square off with her. The height difference would have made it funny if it weren’t for the pair glaring daggers at each other.  
“You think I haven’t been struggling!? I’ve been struggling for half of my life to stay sane all thanks to your father! I’ve been struggling to keep my emotions in check so I don’t turn into everyone’s nightmare like I did at the facility! I hated hurting Weiss and all I’ve ever done is beat myself up about it since!” 

As the young Reaper ranted, she stepped forwards whilst Winter stepped back, fear beginning to appear on her features.

“And yeah, I killed four huntsmen and they damned well deserved it! They had no clue about my friend and didn’t even think to ask before killing him! I can guarantee you’d do the same thing if it was one of your friends!” Ruby continued to rant, backing the Specialist against the back wall.

Ruby’s rage didn’t cease and thus, small amounts of bone began to grow on her face, both of her eyes turning blood red whilst black veins crept onto her cheeks, under her eyes and chin; slowly creeping down onto her neck and beyond. 

Whilst that was happening, Weiss had begun to breath heavily, holding her chest as she heaved. She leant onto the desk, trying to support her own weight as black goop dripped out of her nose.   
Dizziness soon overtook her and she collapsed, knocking her chair over in the process.

At the sound of a thump and a crash, both Ruby and Winter’s head snapped to where Weiss should have been standing. In an instant, the young Reaper was at her side with the older Schnee not far behind, their argument seemingly forgotten.

“Weiss!?” Both of them shouted, their negative emotions vanishing suddenly as concern and panic took over. 

The younger girl frantically checked her partner’s pulse before checking anything else. She couldn’t feel anything. Her panic rose higher as she desperately pressed her ear against Weiss’ chest. 

Nothing. Not a beat or a pulse. No signs of life.

The room soon resounded with the sounds of sobbing and shouts for the younger Schnee to wake up, other people in the halls hearing the cries, including Yang and Blake. They burst into the room as Ruby was mid-way through resuscitating her currently deceased partner. Blake promptly left to find some help whilst Yang immediately went to Ruby’s side and tried to pry her away, letting Winter take over.

The cat faunus came back a few minutes later with a defibrillator in hand and got to work in a flash. If Weiss survived, she was probably going to kill her for ripping her dress. 

The first shock did nothing and just made Weiss’ lifeless body jump. Compressions were started again with Winter and Blake taking turns after each shock whilst Yang kept Ruby away, holding her tightly and whispering sweet nothings into her lupine ears.

Five minutes went by slowly, making it feel like an eternity. Blake and Winter were about to give up after giving Weiss one more shock with the defibrillator and one more round of chest compressions.

A deep unsteady breath resonated around the room as the ex-heiress finally came back from the deep void of death.   
Just to make sure, Blake pressed two fingers to a pulse point, breathing a heavy sigh of relief.

Yang let go of the young Reaper, struggling to hold her as she’d heard the breath of life. The red and black haired girl was by her partner’s side once more, lifting her from the ground and rushing out of the room using her semblance, travelling as fast as possible to the nearest and only hospital in the Port of Arden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo, that’s it for now. Expect another chapter sometime soon since I just keep writing and keep getting impatient. I’ve gotten stupidly far in the storyline and you lot are kinda behind. But, at least I’ve written ahead just in case I have another spat of writer’s block. Which I think will be pretty soon. But saying that, I wrote chapter 19 within a few hours, literally right after finishing chapter 18.   
> I am now currently writing chapter 21. So yeah, I’m kinda ahead of myself. For now.
> 
> In any case, I better stop rambling and waffling on so you lot can go about your day. See you next time for Chapter 16: Corruption


	16. Corruption

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weiss is back in the dream world with the same being as before. But this time, it isn’t a pleasant experience and after she comes out of it, she isn’t the same person as before, especially when it comes to Ruby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey beautiful people. It’s been a full 7 days since I last updated so here’s the next chapter! This week’s literally gone by in a flash. 
> 
> On another note, my writing is slowing down again. The impending writer’s block is coming again. But don’t worry, I have up to chapter 22 written up.
> 
> Hope you enjoy the chapter!

The girl was back in the world she knew nothing of; back in the dark void of nothingness where she felt nothing, heard nothing, saw nothing and could smell nothing. 

Not until she squeezed her eyes shut and wished to be out of the dark space. The world changed and she was back in the place where her nightmare first began. The evil woman from before was there, sitting on a throne of black steel. Or at least she thought it was steel. It could’ve been a completely different metal for all she knew.

The pale woman before her looked to be asleep, a veined hand holding her head up as she seemingly slumbered.  
The girl was mistaken to step forwards. She was mistaken to reach a hand out towards her.

The woman’s free hand shot up to the girl’s outstretched limb, holding it with an iron grip and digging her sharp nails into the exposed flesh.  
The girl yelped in surprise and pain, trying to jump backwards to a safe distance. 

“You are not very intelligent are you? Considering what transpired the last time you were here, I would have thought you would have at least gained some brain cells. I suppose I expected too much from you.” The woman said, her voice smooth and silky, as though it could ensnare you like a spider’s web.

The girl looked up into crimson eyes, fear lancing through her heart at the sight. The woman before her was the same as before, apart from the new clothing clinging to her body. Veins still spouted across her face, arms and whatever skin was revealed. 

“Although, I am quite surprised how quickly your soul is beginning to fade. I’m actually astounded how fast your body is failing as well. It is a great shame I will not be able to call you here after this or be able to torment you.” The woman continued, the most evil smile the girl had ever seen spreading across her face, causing a shiver to run down her spine.

As the girl opted to stay silent, the woman continued, standing from her throne and dragging the girl by her arm across the throne room.  
“Would you like to see what has become of your soul? I know I want you to see. Besides, you don’t really have a choice in the matter.” The woman chuckled as she threw the girl in front of a curtained part of the wall, standing behind her and grabbing her by the shoulders to keep her from running. Not that she could ever hope to escape.

“Pull the curtain down, little Schnee. Let yourself see what your soul has become.” The mirth in the pale woman’s voice was unnerving to the girl but she did as she was told, lest she be at the receiving end of her rage.

The curtain fell with a thwump on the floor, a mirror behind. The girl’s reflection stared back but it wasn’t what she expected. It wasn’t entirely her that looked back.

Eyes of blood and anger, face of crawling red veins and skin of death reflected in the mirror.   
The girl tried to step back, she tried to look away but her attempts were in vain.   
The woman held her in place and gripped her chin with enough force that she couldn’t and wouldn’t be able to look away.   
The next best thing was just to close her eyes. 

The hand on her chin swiftly moved to grasping her throat, squeezing hard enough until her eyes flew open and her own hands shot up to the pale, cold hand. She tried to pry it away but it only became tighter around her neck, cutting off her air supply. If she actually needed air to begin with, she didn’t know as her airways were still being crushed.

“Look at yourself! Look what you are becoming! See what I have done to you! See how you will die!” The woman bellowed, the calm and smooth tone no longer in existence as her own rage and hatred took over.

The girl struggled against the hand encircling her throat, she tried to fight against the grip on her shoulder but the pale woman held on tight.  
An idea came to the girl, one that would probably fail or get her killed there and then.

Pretending to give in, she relaxed and seemed to do as she was told, staring into the mirror.   
The woman relaxed her grip ever so slightly and the girl made her move.

In a flash, she tilted her head forwards and flung it backwards, hitting something solid.  
The woman shouted out in pain, stepping back and giving the girl the opportunity to escape, to run as fast and as far away as she could.

It took a moment for the pale woman to recover, giving the girl the time to run down a hall, away from the throne room.  
When the woman recovered, the girl heard rage-filled shouts, promises of making her suffer and the crash of the throne room door.

The girl tried to pick up her pace, coming to the end of the hall where it turned left or right. She chose left and immediately regretted it. 

In the middle of the hall a black pool lay. A creature of black skin and white bone slowly emerged. The girl swiftly turned around to run down the other hall, only to find it blocked off with another creature.

The woman finally caught up, sauntering up to the girl, a dangerously calm look on her face.  
The girl knew she’d fucked up big time when the creature's arms shot out towards her, grabbing her under the arms and lifting her off the floor.

The woman leaned in close, murder shining in her crimson eyes. She grasped the girl’s chin and forced her to look into her bloody gaze. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please don’t kill me. I won’t do it again. Please, I’m sorry…”  
The girl pleaded desperately. If she had a bladder in this strange world, she’d have undoubtedly soiled herself by now. 

The evil pale woman smiled at that, pulling away and turning around, beginning to walk back down the hall.

The girl was freed from the grasp of the creatures, falling to the floor on her knees. She sighed deeply in relief, letting her guard down far too much and far too quickly.

The woman abruptly turned on her heel and rushed back to the girl, grabbing her by the throat and slamming her against the wall. The girl yelped as her head smacked against the stone and the bones of her back were instantly bruised.

“I should kill you this instant for what you just did, you disgusting little worm! You are very lucky I have another use for you or you would undoubtedly already be a corpse!”   
The pale woman shouted, her voice full of venom that could most likely take anyone or anything down.

The girl choked, the hand around her throat tightening and tears sprang to her eyes, rolling down her cheeks. Sobs tried to cut through but couldn’t, her airways being crushed to the point she couldn’t speak or even whimper.  
The woman lessened her grip, wanting to keep the girl in the strange world for as long as possible. Well, until she told her what she wanted the girl to do.

“Now, you will listen to me very carefully, little Schnee. My patience has run rather thin with you and anymore escape attempts or violence, I will kill you. Are you going to listen to me and do as I ask?” The woman spoke again, her voice much calmer and back to being smooth and silky.

The girl immediately nodded her head, vigorously; her eyes wide with fear. 

“Good.” The woman responded, setting the girl down and removing her hand.  
The girl choked and coughed, trying to take a steady breath. Actually, did she even need to breathe in this world?   
She felt pain and fear and other emotions and feelings but didn’t feel hungry or thirsty. She didn’t even need to use the bathroom. 

“Now,” the woman continued, “there is an incredibly important task I have for you. Only you can accomplish the outcome I want. Will you accept my task?” 

The girl looked up from the floor into hate-filled red eyes, quickly debating if she should help the monster before her.  
“I…I don’t…”

The woman sighed in disappointment before placing a hand on the girl’s head.   
The girl cowered beneath the pale hand, only relaxing slightly when nothing else happened.  
She really needed to learn when to relax and when not to.

The woman gripped onto her hair then, digging her nails into the girl’s head, going deeper and deeper until the girl shouted out from the increasing pain.

Dark energy began to gather in the pale woman’s hand, growing and expanding in power until it swirled around the girl’s head before slowly being absorbed.

The girl screamed then, the energy pulsating down into her skull and throughout her body. She could feel it encasing her heart and clouding her mind, causing more veins to pop up and spread.   
As the energy was absorbed, the woman stepped away, admiring her work with a small smile pulling at her lips.

The girl whimpered once, holding her chest and head before falling to the side on the floor.   
The woman smirked as she knelt down next to her, taking her chin between her finger and thumb again.   
She leaned in close to the girl’s ear and whispered her orders.  
“I want you to destroy that little pet of yours. Don’t kill her. Destroy her mentally and emotionally. Cause her great despair and anger. Make her the monster she is supposed to be.”

And with that, the strange world became the dark unfeeling void once more. The girl didn’t think or wish for anything, simply floating in the abyss for who knows how long before the black became red, growing bigger and bigger.   
She closed her eyes and let it engulf her.

***

Weiss’ eyes flew open as the strange dream came to an end, a voice ringing in her head.  
“Destroy your pet, little Schnee or I won’t be so kind as to let you live if you are ever able to come here again.”

The ex-heiress sat up, her blue eyes searching the room. She was in the hospital again. No one was there with her.   
Not for long anyway.

Just as she sat up, swung her legs to the side to get out of bed and ripped the IV line and heart monitor nodes off, the door to her room opened. She expected it to be Ruby but was quite disappointed when it turned out to be Blake.

The cat faunus stopped mid-way through the door, her eyes wide. She stepped back out and hurried off down the hall.  
A few moments later, she returned with company.   
Yang, Winter and Ruby quickly entered, sighing in relief that Weiss was okay.

“How do you feel, Weiss?” Winter asked, stepping towards the bed and sitting down next to her sister.

She didn’t answer.

“Weiss?” Her sister asked.

Still no reply. 

The younger Schnee was staring at something. Or rather, someone.  
They all followed her gaze and found that it was Ruby she was staring at.  
The young faunus looked away, unable to keep eye contact. Guilt and sadness were already present in the younger girl, making it far easier for Weiss.  
She had a task to complete after all. 

But the way her partner was looking away from her made her want to do more than just destroy her emotional state.   
A viscous voice rang through her head. “Kiiiiillll! Kill her. Kill her. Kill her. Kill her. Kill her, kill her, kill her, killherkillherkillherkillher!”   
It chanted, gaining speed and ferocity and continuing to shout out for her to kill the younger girl.

Weiss stood, abruptly, surprising everyone in the room. She took a step forward and slowly made her way towards her partner.   
Fluffy tail tucked itself between two legs and lupine ears flattened back against her head as the young Schnee approached. 

“Weiss...I-“ Ruby began, wanting to step back.

“Shhhh. It’s okay.” The corrupted ex-heiress said softly, wrapping her arms around the younger girl. “It’s not like it’s anyone else’s fault but yours that I’ve become a monster.” 

“Wha-what?” Came Ruby’s reply before a yelp of pain and the sound of bone cracking rebounded around the hospital room.

It was like a switch had been flipped as Weiss was no longer Weiss. Her eyes became that of crimson red with black sclera, red and black veins spouted and travelled up and down her face, neck, arms, legs, chest and back. Her entire body as pale as the evil woman in the dream.

The girl was no longer Weiss but a corrupted soon to be empty shell that had taken the young Reaper by surprise, pushing and tripping her onto her back; her tail inevitably breaking from the direct fall onto it.   
Not-Weiss immediately jumped onto her, wrapping her small hands around her partner’s neck, beginning to strangle her.

Ruby’s own hands shot up to the ones choking her, trying to desperately grasp them and push them away.   
In return for her struggling, the corrupted girl lifted her head off the floor and slammed it back down, doing so a few times before Yang, Blake and Winter finally intervened.

“Weiss, stop this!” Winter shouted as she grabbed her sister around the waist and attempted to haul her away.   
It seemed the shorter girl’s grip was tight enough to stop anyone from pulling her away. That and the new inhuman strength she now possessed.

Winter tried again with Yang rushing over to help. They pulled as hard as they could as Blake pried iron-grip hands away from Ruby’s throat.  
The younger girl had begun to lose consciousness, her eyelids flickering as she took a deep breath and instantly began to cough before falling unconscious.

Meanwhile, Weiss struggled and fought as she was carried to her bed, trying to kick Yang as hard as she could whilst she screamed at the top of her lungs.   
Security guards rushed into the room, one of them rushing back out to get a doctor. 

“Stay back a minute!” Winter yelled, starting to lose her grip on her screaming sister as she wrestled her onto the bed.

Thankfully a Doctor ran in, another guard right behind him, holding a syringed needle containing a clear liquid.   
The Specialist, the blonde and the cat faunus held onto the struggling girl as hard as they could, holding out one of her arms for the Doctor.  
He took the opportunity to sink the syringe into pale skin, quickly plunging the liquid in.

A few moments passed and Weiss finally stopped struggling, the sedative knocking her unconscious. The Doctor then checked over the unconscious wolf faunus and had her moved out of the room into her own whilst a few nurses swapped out the hospital bed. One that had restraints attached.

***

Ruby awoke with the worst headache she’d ever had, feeling like someone had non-stop pounded her head against a solid floor whilst viciously strangling her. Oh wait, they did.   
And it wasn’t just anyone that had done it either. 

Why had Weiss attacked her like? It didn’t make sense. Nothing made sense. Earlier her partner seemed fine but then she’d collapsed, died, got resuscitated, hospitalised and then she’d woken up and attacked her. What was happening to Weiss apart from what they’d already seen? The inhuman strength as well as the inhuman appearance. Her eyes. What the actual fuck was going on with her partner!?

If they couldn’t find the solution in the lost pages of the journal, Weiss was probably going to attack her again. Whatever had happened whilst the ex-heiress was unconscious, it had changed her. 

A question popped into the young faunus’ head, one that she didn’t want to think about but it became a part of her thoughts regardless.  
What if Weiss had always wanted to kill her?  
Another question surfaced just as she was about to think of the answer. What if it was the end of their relationship even though it had only just begun?

A choked sob rose into the young Reaper’s throat, gaining the attention of the person sitting next to her bed reading a book.

“Ruby?” Blake said, putting a piece of paper in the book to keep her place and putting it to the side. “What’s wrong?”

Another choked sob rang out as tears streamed down the younger faunus’ face. She tried to curl into herself on the bed, getting into the fetal position and holding her hands over her chest where her heart was.   
It was still put together, but just barely. The smallest thing or thought threatened to shatter it indefinitely.

She felt a hand being placed on her shoulder, beginning to rub gentle, comforting circles on it.   
“Ruby. Please tell me what’s wrong.” Blake said, her voice soft and calming.

“We-we were gonna ma-make it official.” Ruby choked out, sobs wracking her entire frame. She attempted to curl in on herself more as absolute, utter despair wrapped its tendrils around her heart, squeezing it tightly and making her cry out loudly. 

The cat faunus beside her had no idea what she meant and no idea what she should do, so in lieu of trying anything else, she continued to rub circles into the younger faunus’ back, hoping to the Gods it would help.

Ten minutes passed by when Ruby finally calmed down; her loud, choked sobs dissipating to quiet sniffles. Blake stood from her seat and reached over to a small table next to the bed, taking a tissue from a box. She held it out to the young Reaper who took it carefully and blew her clogged up nose. 

A quiet ‘thank you’ was the only sound in Ruby’s hospital room after that, until Blake stood from her seat again and proceeded towards the door.  
She turned back and made her intentions known.

“I’ll get Yang for you. She wants to talk to you.” She said but before she could open the door, the younger faunus called out to her. 

“Blake, wait.” 

“What’s up?” Blake questioned and turned back to the younger girl. 

“I need to talk to you about something. It’s important.” Was the uncertain, hesitant reply.

The cat faunus hesitated by the door before making her way back to Ruby’s side and sitting down again. 

Ruby was now sat up, her one silver and one red eye staring off into nothingness. Evidently, she was organising her thoughts before she voiced them.   
She sighed deeply before looking into amber orbs. “I’m sorry…”

Blake’s eyebrows shot up above her hairline at that, confusion steadily growing on her face.  
“What are you sorry for?”

“For what you had to go through. For having to put up with me in the facility. For causing so much hassle and for what I did to Yang.” Ruby said, rushing her words out so she couldn’t back track. She looked away in shame, finding great interest in the fabric on the bed instead. 

The cat faunus stayed silent, thinking through all of what her young leader had said. “What happened to me wasn’t your fault. I’d like to know how you know what happened to me in the first place but that’s for another time.” She paused and thought through what else she was going to say.   
“I will admit, you have caused quite a bit of chaos but that’s not really your fault, is it? It’s not like we could’ve guessed all of what happened was going to happen. We wouldn’t have even known about you being a Reaper or anything if you hadn’t told us. All I knew before you told us was that He wanted you and I had no choice but to comply. And don’t worry about Yang, I forgave you quite a while ago for what happened. You were battling against whatever it is that causes you to become half Grimm or full Grimm.”  
Blake finished, placing a hand on Ruby’s shoulder and squeezing it in a comforting manner.

“No, you don’t understand.” Ruby said, turning back to the cat faunus, distress and guilt etched onto her expression. Again, Blake’s eyebrows shot up above her hairline.  
“I...I did something to Yang after the facility. It...it was when she was in hospital. I snuck into her room and injected her with Grimm and Reaper essence. What I didn’t know was that it also had the memory dust mixed into it. I’m the reason why Yang lost all of her memories. I’m the reason why Yang is now a full-blooded Reaper, like me.” Ruby explained, more tears threatening to escape and spill down her cheeks. 

Blake took her hand back and stared at the young Reaper, several emotions flickering across her face before her expression finally settled on a mix between emotionless and annoyed, reminiscent of the times they’d interacted in the facility.

“I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry Blake. I never intended for that to happen. I didn’t think it would cause Yang to forget everything. To forget you. I shouldn’t- I shouldn’t have done anything. I just wanted to s-save her life.” Ruby cried, curling into a ball once more.

Blake’s expression softened at that, her hand placing itself back on the younger girl’s trembling shoulder. “Ruby, it’s okay. You didn’t know what would have happened. And besides,” the cat faunus began, pausing until Ruby looked at her again, “Yang remembers most things now. She remembers me and Weiss. She remembers and forgives me for what I did because she knows why I had to do it all. Weiss was a little angry but after I explained myself again, she forgave me as well. One thing Yang doesn’t remember though, is you. Well, she remembers small things but says they’re blurry. That’s why she wants to talk to you and I suggest you do so she can get past the block. I forgive you, Ruby. And anyways,, I should be apologising to you.”

“Wha-what? No I-“ the young Reaper started only to be cut off by the older faunus.

“Ruby. I broke your hands without question on orders from Him. Without even batting an eye. I caused you to be punished so many times without showing any sort of emotion. I’m the cause of the many scars across your back. I didn’t feel guilty or anything. So, I’m sorry I caused all of that Ruby. I made it harder for you to survive in that horrid place.”   
The cat faunus said, taking her hand back once more and looking down in shame. It was good to finally get all of that off her chest but, there was still a weight around her neck. She held her breath and waited for the inevitable venomous reply from her teammate.

A moment passed and no words had been said. She heard Ruby shift on the bed and to her surprise, she felt warm arms wrap around her.  
“I forgive you.” Ruby whispered into a flickering black cat ear. 

At those words, Blake’s dam of held back emotions finally burst free, tears streaming down her face and sobs wracking her frame.   
“Wh-why?” She sobbed, wanting answers as to why her team leader forgave her so quickly and so easily.

“Because I know what was being done to you.” Ruby whispered, her voice gentle but still clogged up from her own tears.  
“They were using a new drug that suppresses certain or all emotions depending on the dosage. I forgave you after I found evidence they were drugging you. And besides, everything I went through; all of the scars I have are because you were there to make sure I never did anything too stupid to get myself killed. The punishments were necessary for me to survive. You helped me survive that place Blake. No one else.” Ruby explained, leaning out of the embrace and wiping away Blake’s tears with her thumb.

“Thank you.” Blake whispered, just loud enough for Ruby’s wolf ears to pick up. 

“You’re welcome.” Came the just as quiet reply as Ruby sat back down on the hospital bed.

Soon enough, both faunus dried their tears and chatted idly, recounting the things they’d both done after escaping the facility. The afternoon turned to late evening quicker than they expected, a nurse checking up on them every so often before it was time for Blake to go back to the hotel she was staying at and get some rest. Not that she was going to be able to. Not since Ruby had said the facility had been giving her a drug to limit the emotions she felt. It was no wonder she still felt apathetic to certain things.

***

Several hours later and Ruby had been discharged once more. The lumps, bumps and small cuts she’d received from Weiss had healed without further incident. Now, she stood outside of her partner’s hospital room debating whether or not it was a good idea to see her. 

She’d received news that Weiss had unexpectedly woken up, the sedative wearing off faster than it should have done. No one apart from Winter had been in the room, if only for a few minutes after her own sister had thrown out several venomous insults and slurs. Even the nurses and doctors had been victims of insulting words with all of them refusing to enter the room unless Winter or someone else accompanied them. And that was only in a few hours since Weiss had tried to strangle Ruby.

Ruby sighed, finally deciding that whatever Weiss said wouldn’t be true and that she could take it. Especially because of everything she’d already been through. So she opened the door and stepped through with all the confidence a teenager with anxiety had. 

She stopped still as crimson orbs bored into her skull as soon as she stepped into the room.  
Weiss had been sat up but was still completely restrained. 

“What the fuck do you want? I thought I made myself quite clear, unless you want to be strangled again.” Not-Weiss said, venom lacing her voice as she glared at the younger girl. 

“Um...I just w-wanted to see if you’re okay.” Ruby stammered, unusually nervous and beginning to fidget on the spot.

“‘Um...I just w-wanted’... what the fucks wrong with you now? Suddenly become retarded or have you been retarded this whole time?” The white-haired girl mocked, her glare deepening.

“Weiss...I-I’m sorry. Whatever I did I’m sorry.” The young Reaper tried, her tone pleading whilst her tail tucked itself between her legs.

Weiss scoffed at that. “You’re sorry? Ha! You are so fucking stupid! It’s your fault this is happening to me in the first place! Sorry isn’t going to fix whatever the fuck is wrong with me is it?

“No, Weiss...I-I don’t understand. I thought we were okay. I thought- I thought we were-

“Together? Fuck no! You don’t get it do you? You truly are a retard aren’t you? I’ve been using you Ruby. All this time. Do you seriously think I’d fall for someone like you? Do you actually think I’d ever enjoy being around you? Don’t make me laugh! I’d never ever be with someone like you unless I gained something from it but I can see I won’t. So get the fuck out of here and never speak to me again.” Weiss said, her voice a mix between venomous and egotistical.

“Wh-what? Weiss, please-“ the young faunus tried, on the verge of tears and her own voice trembling.

“No Ruby! Get the fuck out of here! I don’t want to see your disgusting face again! Go away you filthy animal!” Weiss shouted, finally losing her temper and beginning to struggle against her restraints.

With that, Ruby swiftly turned on her heel and ran out of the door, slamming it shut on her way out.  
She rushed through the halls of the hospital, desperately trying not to burst into tears on her way through.   
It felt like an eternity of running through the white halls but eventually, the young Reaper made it to the main entrance and hurried to get outside. Once she was outside, the feeling of wanting to cry disappeared, being replaced with absolute despair. But not just that; it was like her heart didn’t want to feel anything other than hate, anger and despair. 

Anger from the words Weiss had spoken, anger at herself and the anger at the world around her. Then there was hating herself, the world, humans and Weiss. Despair because of the way Weiss had become and what she’d said. How she’d said those words.  
There was now, well and truly nothing in this cursed world for Ruby to live for. Maybe it would be better if she actually became a Grimm. That way, she would never be able to feel guilt, shame, despair, sadness, happiness or anything again.

With those last thoughts, the younger Reaper felt the tingle of bone beginning to grow on her face once more. The sensation didn’t just stop on her face, however, it became a prominent feeling up her spine, her chest and limbs. 

Instead of panicking, the young Reaper simply activated her semblance and headed straight towards the expansive forest beyond the Port of Arden. 

Once on the border of the forest, her scroll buzzed, notifying her of a new message.  
She took the device out and saw it was from Blake.

Blake: Ruby, where are you? We’re supposed to be meeting with Winter so we can get back to Schnee Manor. 

Ruby debated with herself. Should she reply and then throw her scroll away or should she just throw her scroll away and never speak to anyone again.   
She decided on the former, typing out her reply.

Ruby: I’m sorry. I won’t be there. I need to kill something. Make sure Weiss is okay. I won't be coming back. If you do find me, I’ll probably already be dead. Or worse.

Her thumb hovered over the send button for a few seconds longer than she wanted to. She quickly pressed the send button after sighing deeply. When that was taken care of, she threw the scroll as far as she could into the forest then activated her semblance once more and disappeared in a flurry of brown, wilted rose petals.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Ruby, I’m forever making her suffer aren’t I? Well actually, I’ve been making them all suffer lately XD  
> I think I may have a few screws loose. Ahhhh welllll. 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next week’s is Chapter 17: Despair. See you next week!

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I hope that answers some people’s questions on how Reaper’s came to be. I have yet to explain how faunus came to be buuuut I can’t think of something right now.  
> Any questions, don’t be afraid to ask unless it’s something I can’t actually say just in case it spoils the storyline.  
> Anyways, that’s Ruby’s chapter. Next one will be on Weiss. It is being edited but I have no idea when it’ll be done, so it could be a bit until it’s posted.  
> There will be a Blake chapter and then a Yang chapter. It’ll be like this until the team are back together unless I can’t think of a chapter for one of them. 
> 
> Anyways, imma stop my rambling. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and have questions to ask. I look forward to answering them!  
> Side note: Updates will be weekly but bare in mind I do have college to attend and I’ll end up with coursework to complete. But for now, up to chapter 6 is either written out or planned.  
> Anyways, see you all again next time and Happy Reading! :)


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